Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Fort Lauderdale
Medical malpractice generally refers to a medical professional’s failure or delay in properly diagnosing a patient. A patient may be eligible for compensation if the misdiagnosis has resulted in injury or a further, unnecessary progression of the disease.
Nobody expects to get injured at a place where they went to get help. But those things do happen. Even the best of hospitals can mess up, sometimes resulting in medical malpractice, and the resultant legal cases are the most complex of all personal injury claims. The case’s complexity can drive anyone up the wall while considering the best approach in winning your claim.
Throw that worry away as all you need is the best medical malpractice attorney Fort Lauderdale from Wolf and Pravato, with whom you can feel confident of being prioritized. Your first consultation would be free, and even after we take up your case, you won’t be charged until you have won.
Medical Provider Harmed You Call Our Fort Lauderdale Medical Malpractice Attorney
Those who think that their medical provider has caused them harmed during treatment should call our best medical malpractice lawyer Fort Lauderdale at the Law Offices of Wolf and Pravato. We would thoroughly analyze your claim and determine to what extent your medical care was neglected due to a breach of duty by your medical establishment.
This happens more often than you can think; hence it is better to be armed if such an event arises. Contact Wolf and Pravato today, and let’s discuss further your chances of winning the case with our best medical malpractice lawyer Fort Lauderdale. Our guidance and end-to-end legal assistance will help you support your claim with confidence.
Conditions of Medical Malpractice in Fort Lauderdale, FL
The Florida Health Department’s Physician Workforce Annual Report (2019) states the data on physicians and doctors in the state as:
- 80,785 state-licensed physicians live in FL
- 52,936 doctors have an active FL practice
- 32,635 physicians are 50 years of age or older
- 18,548 physicians are of the age 60 years and older
- The average age of a physician is 54 in FL
These numbers indicate that most physicians, though as experienced as they might be, are prone to make mistakes. If you are not satisfied with these numbers, Consider Florida ranks number four in the country at $562 million paid annually for premiums for direct-written malpractice insurance policies. Do you still think you don’t need a reliable Fort Lauderdale medical malpractice attorney to represent you?
How Does Medical Malpractice in Fort Lauderdale Happen?
Medical malpractice is said to have occurred when an improper, incomplete or negligent treatment or procedure has been performed by a physician, doctor, nurse, pharmacist, or any other healthcare professional resulting in health concerns for the patient. The negligence could have been caused by any medical establishment in Fort Lauderdale, and you have the right to contest it by choosing medical malpractice lawyer Fort Lauderdale.
Usually, the damage caused by medical malpractice is often life-changing and significant. Damages from medical malpractice can lead to more loss in extra medical care, additional surgeries, therapy, loss of income, emotional distress, and other damages.
While every medical complication from malpractice is unique, there are specific categories under which most of them can be put under:
- Failure to diagnose a medical condition properly
- Failure to follow professional standards during treatment
- Failure to prevent injury to the infant during birth
- Failure to prescribe the proper medication resulting in bodily harm
- Leaving instruments inside the patient after completion of invasive surgery
- Failure to take note of all patient points about their health
- Failure to comply with all safety standards
- Failure to take consent properly or fully
Common Medical Malpractice Claims in Fort Lauderdale
Wolf and Pravato, in their years of service of providing medical malpractice attorneys in Fort Lauderdale, have come across a broad spectrum of medical claims against numerous medical practitioners. Some of the most common ones are listed below –
Failure to Treat or Diagnose Properly
This is a common occurrence. Cancer, which is curable in its early stage, can be overlooked by a doctor resulting in a considerable amount of physical and emotional pain, not to mention the resultant financial troubles.
- Failure to diagnose cancer and multiple sclerosis,
- Failure to treat infection
- Failure to handle preventable heart attacks or strokes
- Commit errors in drug prescriptions resulting in overdose
Errors in a Medical Procedure (Surgical Malpractice)
- Organ transplant errors
- Plastic surgery errors
- Retaining foreign objects in the body
- Errors in Chemotherapy
Negligence in Healthcare
The number of patients who die from negligent healthcare is a lot. This is especially true for the elderly who can’t communicate appropriately with the establishment about their health issues. Negligence can also extend to missing out on crucial appointments, refusing to take specific tests, and others.
- Improper supervision of patient
- Negligence from health staff such as nurses
- Negligence at the nursing home
- Not following emergency room protocol
Issues with Women’s Healthcare
There are many specialized medical treatments around women’s care and several things that can go wrong. Wolf and Pravato have many medical malpractice attorney Fort Lauderdale who are experts at dealing with claims regarding women’s medical malpractices.
- OBGYN Negligence
- Wrong prenatal and postnatal handling
- Congenital disabilities and newborn injuries
Damages That Can Be Recovered in Fort Lauderdale Medical Malpractice Claim
The three types of damage that can be recovered in a Fort Lauderdale Medical Malpractice Claim are economic, non-economic, and punitive.
Economic and non-economic claims are compensatory damages that are directly related to the losses resulting in medical malpractice. Economic damages cover the medical bills on treatment and loss in wages, while non-economic damage covers pain and suffering and emotional distress.
Punitive damages act as a deterrent for the medical establishment from causing such damage in the future. These are not awarded each time but can be given when the medical professional wilfully caused damage.
Types of Compensatory Damages in Medical Malpractice
There are two main types of damages payable in medical malpractice lawsuit cases: special and general. Special damages are more easily calculated because they have a clear monetary value:
- medical bills
- lost wages
- if the victim died, his or her survivors can recover compensation for funeral and burial expenses.
Replacement services are also included under special damages. For example, if a victim is left paralyzed because of medical malpractice, then replacement services would include someone hired to cook, clean and perform other household chores. This even includes nursing and long-term care services.
If ongoing medical treatment will be needed, patients can claim this in medical malpractice lawsuit cases as well:
- future surgeries
- rehabilitation
- physical therapy
- other forms of treatment.
Although the costs of future treatment rely largely on estimation, a medical negligence attorney can help arrive at this estimation and may call on a medical expert to testify regarding the future care that will be needed.
Our Medical Malpractice Lawyers Fort Lauderdale Help In Your Claim
It is important to note that failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis is not evidence of medical malpractice negligence on their own. Even doctors exercising reasonable care can make diagnostic errors. You will need to prove whether or not your doctor acted competently, which will involve investigating what your doctor did or did not do to arrive at your diagnosis. This may include hiring an expert medical witness in order to prove that your doctor did not take the same steps that a reasonable practitioner would have. Contact our expert medical malpractice attorney Fort Lauderdale.
Medical Malpractice Statute of Limitations and Fort Lauderdale
The statute of limitation is the time limit before which legal action should be taken. Since there is a time limit, it is essential to act quickly. Under the State of Florida laws, a medical malpractice claim should be brought to the court within two years of the incident or its discovery.
The law states that a medical practitioner cannot be sued for medical malpractice after four years from the incident. Once the statute of limitations expires, then the patient has no right to sue. There is an exception, though, where the time limit may not apply in some cases if the victim is less than eight years old.
As Florida law, other experts in the same field as the medical practitioner being sued can be approached for expert testimony purposes. Such testimonies can go a long way in helping your claim win.
How Can I Prove Medical Malpractice in Fort Lauderdale?
Basically, in order to prevail in your misdiagnosis medical malpractice claim, you will need to show that a doctor-patient relationship existed between you and your practitioner, your doctor did not provide treatment in a reasonably skillful and competent manner, and that your doctor’s negligence caused your injury.
Mistakes in diagnosis or treatment:
Typically, an incorrect diagnosis is due to one of the following:
- Misdiagnosis – When a doctor diagnoses the wrong illness.
- Failure to diagnose – When a doctor does not diagnose an illness or disease when one exists.
- Delayed diagnosis – A doctor eventually makes the correct diagnosis, but only after a significant delay. Late diagnosis is one of the more common types of diagnosis errors.
- Failure to recognize complications – A doctor makes the right diagnosis but does not identify complications or factors which could change or aggravate the condition.
- Failure to diagnose a related disease – A doctor correctly diagnoses one condition, but fails to diagnose a related condition.
- Failure to diagnose an unrelated disease – The doctor correctly diagnoses one condition, but fails to diagnose a completely unrelated second condition.
It is also possible that a doctor can misdiagnose a patient due to faulty diagnostic equipment or other human error, such as a lab tech mixing up samples or any other specialist or technician missing something on an x-ray or pathology slide. If this is the case, there may be several parties that are liable for your injury. It is also possible to be misdiagnosed in an emergency room due to the volume of patients requiring care.
Medical Malpractice Lawyer Fort Lauderdale Help To Make Malpractice Case Strong
You’ve trusted your doctor to take good care of you. You certainly didn’t expect your doctor to cause you harm, or make your existing injuries or illnesses worse. But yet, he/she did. You want to hold the doctor accountable for the pain and suffering he/she caused you and are considering filing a medical malpractice lawsuit also contact medical malpractice lawyers Fort Lauderdale for legal help. Prepare to make a strong malpractice case – but first, learn the most common types of defense used in medical malpractice cases.
Medical Malpractice Negligence Claims! Contact Our Medical Malpractice Lawyers
Because medical malpractice falls under the umbrella of negligence, many of the defenses used against general medical malpractice negligence claims are also used against medical malpractice claims. The doctor’s medical negligence lawyers will try to disprove the negligence by saying the care received by the patient was in line with the standards upheld in the medical profession, or that the patient’s injuries weren’t the result of a medical error.
Negligent Act
If a medical professional can prove that your injury was caused by a negligent act on your part, the medical professional may have a valid defense against a malpractice claim. For example, this could include things like missing scheduled appointments, refusing to take certain tests or not showing up for the tests, not following doctor’s instructions for lifestyles changes (dietary, activity restrictions, etc.), or taking medicine that could interfere with treatment or not taking prescribed medication. A breach of informed consent on the patient’s behalf is considered patient negligence and can be used as a defense in a malpractice case. Take help from our medical malpractice attorneys Fort Lauderdale in your case.
Types of Medical Malpractice Cases
The types of medical malpractice cases that warrant filing a medical claim are those that result in damages due to negligence. Cases in which the medical professional followed a standard of care or that do not involve serious injury typically do not warrant legal action.
Making a mistake doesn’t necessarily warrant a claim. The severity of your injuries and the circumstances surrounding the act of negligence will play a role in deciding if you have a strong case.
The following are 10 types of medical malpractice cases that could lead to filing a medical claim:
- leaving an instrument inside the patient’s body;
- giving medications that are known to have harmful interactions with one another;
- amputating the wrong limb;
- lacerating and organ or artery;
- giving a very high, dangerous dose of radiation;
- not performing an emergency C-section when there is fetal distress;
- performing surgery that was unnecessary, such as hysterectomy;
- giving tainted blood to a patient;
- delaying the diagnosis of a serious medical condition and reducing the chance of recovery; and
- improper intubation.
Being able to prove all the elements of a medical or dental malpractice case is critical if you hope to have any chance at recovering compensation, so don’t delay seeking legal counsel.
What Damages Could I Receive After a Misdiagnosis In Fort Lauderdale?
After a misdiagnosis, you may be eligible for monetary damages in medical malpractice. You could be entitled to reimbursement for medical expenses, treatment, and medications associated with your misdiagnosis. Additionally, you may also be entitled to receive lost wages and other damages that might be related to the misdiagnosis.
1. Collectible Damages
Medical malpractice lawsuit cases allow patients injured because of medical negligence the opportunity to recover compensatory damages. The goal of malpractice cases is to allow victims to become financially whole again and to compensate for non-economic damages they’ve suffered.
A study appearing in the New England Journal of Medicine that examined malpractice cases involving a large liability insurer from 1991 to 2005 found the average settlement to be about $275,000. Settlements can encompass a variety of damages, and consultation with a medical malpractice attorney Fort Lauderdale can help injured victims evaluate which damages may be recoverable in their particular claim.
2. General Damages
General damages are also available in medical malpractice lawsuit cases. However, they are harder to calculate because they involve emotional damages. For example, the victim’s pain, suffering; and loss of enjoyment of life are calculated into this equation.
If a victim suffers mental distress from the doctor’s negligence, such as depression, nightmares, and extreme anxiety, then these conditions would be factored in as well. An expert witness may be called in to determine how much the victim’s damages are worth by looking at his or her age and activity level. For example, someone who is young and held promising job prospects before the incident would likely recover more compensatory damages than an elderly victim or retired person.
3. Punitive Damages
In some cases, punitive damages may be awarded. These are not considered compensatory damages, however, because they do not serve to compensate the victim. Instead, they punish the defendant for his or her gross negligence. In a medical malpractice case, punitive damages are used to hold medical professionals accountable for their past negligent actions as well as in the future and hopefully prevent repeat occurrences.
To Recovery The Damages Call Medical Malpractice Attorneys Fort Lauderdale
In order to recover punitive damages in a medical malpractice lawsuit case, it must be proven that the medical professional was egregiously negligent or acted intentionally. An example would be a surgeon deliberately leaving a sponge or surgical tool inside a patient in order to necessitate a future surgery. However, this can be extremely difficult to prove. These cases can be very difficult to prove. You’ll have to demonstrate that the medical professional acted negligently by failing to follow a reasonable standard of care expected of other professionals. The New England Journal of Medicine study mentioned previously also noted that only about one in five cases result in a settlement.
If you are a victim and suffered serious injuries because of a doctor’s, surgeon’s, or other health care professional’s negligence, Talk to a medical malpractice attorney Fort Lauderdale at the law offices of Wolf & Pravato in Fort Lauderdale.
Medical Malpractice Negligence in Fort Lauderdale
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), reports medical negligence is the third leading cause of death in the U.S.—following heart disease and cancer. This is an alarming statistic: In 2012, there were over $3 billion spent in medical malpractice payouts averaging one payout every 43 minutes.
Medical Malpractice Payout
Florida was rated number five out of 50 states for medical malpractice payout in 2012 with recoveries of over $200 million. Becker’s Hospital Review statistics for 2012, reported that of the $3.6 billion in medical malpractice payouts nationally for 2012, Florida had $203,671,100 in payouts.
According to Becker’s report, most of the medical malpractice cases claim consisted of injuries related to diagnosis, surgery, treatment, obstetrics, and medication. Is there anything you can do as a Fort Lauderdale resident to avoid becoming one of these unfortunate statistics?
How Can Wolf and Pravato’s Malpractice Lawyers of Fort Lauderdale Help You?
Medical malpractice is a specialized legal area. Not all attorneys but only the expert Fort Lauderdale medical malpractice attorneys in the area can win these cases for you. The medical malpractice lawyers at Wolf and Pravato know how the process works under Florida law. The medical malpractice team at Wolf and Pravato will thoroughly go through your claim and the circumstances that led to it and advise you on the best legal options moving forward. Since expert testimony is paramount in such cases, we will find the witnesses for you, obtain medical records and all the other forms of evidence that will help you in winning the claim.
With decades of experience winning claims by our Fort Lauderdale medical malpractice lawyers, we have gained sufficient knowledge to pursue even the most complex of claims confidently. We offer legal assistance to individuals and families who have been affected by the rampant medical malpractice of any types of medical practitioners in Fort Lauderdale, and also in cities of Coral Gables, Weston, West Palm Beach, Sunrise, Miramar, Plantation, Miami, Boca Raton, and Pembroke Pines.
Contact Us Today to Connect with the Medical Malpractice Attorney Fort Lauderdale
The most difficult part of obtaining compensation for your medical malpractice is proving that the physician’s misdiagnosis was the actual cause. In this case, you need an experienced medical malpractice attorney in Fort Lauderdale working for you. A medical misdiagnosis can lead to serious injury or wrongful death. The Fort Lauderdale personal injury attorneys from the Law Offices of Wolf & Pravato will investigate your claim, hire expert witnesses if necessary and do what it takes to prove your case. If you have suffered an injury or misdiagnosis – contact the Fort Lauderdale Medical Malpractice Lawyers at 1-954-633-8270.
Medical Malpractice FAQs:
1. What is covered by medical malpractice insurance?
Healthcare companies and private practices buy medical malpractice insurance to cover their medical professionals when their negligence causes injuries. This insurance covers these professionals’ negligent or wrongful acts, including:
- Surgical mistakes
- Misdiagnosing a patient
- Medication errors
- Birth injuries
- Leaving foreign objects inside the body
The insurance will cover the injured patient’s medical bills, lost income, and pain and suffering.
2. What is the cost of malpractice insurance for doctors?
The cost doctors pay for medical malpractice insurance varies by discipline and geographic location. For example, a surgeon would pay more in insurance than other medical personnel. Generally, doctors pay anywhere from thousands to tens of thousands each year to insure themselves against malpractice claims.
3. Is medical malpractice difficult to prove?
Whether medical malpractice will be difficult to prove depends on your case’s complexity. A medical malpractice lawyer in Fort Lauderdale, from our law firm can take on tough cases. To prove medical malpractice, we will have to show that:
- The healthcare professional owed you a duty of care.
- They breached their duty of care through a negligent or malicious act.
- Their breach of duty caused your injuries.
- You suffered financial and emotional losses.
4. What are the odds of winning a medical malpractice suit?
The odds of winning a medical malpractice case depend on whether you can prove the above circumstances. If a Fort Lauderdale medical malpractice attorney from our law firm provides enough supplemental evidence to prove the healthcare provider’s negligence, then the odds of winning are strong.
A member of our legal team will tell you your odds of winning up front. Law Offices of Wolf & Pravato clients value our honesty, and we always make sure our clients understand their rights and legal options.
5. When should you contact a lawyer for medical malpractice?
You should contact our law firm for your medical malpractice case as soon as you discover your injury. You have a limited amount of time in Florida to file a lawsuit against a healthcare professional for medical malpractice, and you want to give your legal team as much time as possible to build your case against them.
Our law firm’s goal is to secure the compensation that you are entitled to, and we need as much time as possible to make sure we are accounting for all of your losses.
