1. What is medical malpractice?

Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider, as defined by Florida Statutes to include doctors, hospitals, HMO's, nurses, chiropractors, and therapists - fails to provide a given standard of care, resulting in injury or death.

2. What damages can be recovered from a medical malpractice lawsuit?

    a. Medical expenses for treating the injuries caused by the malpractice

    b. Damages for pain and suffering

    c. Disfigurement and disability damages

    d. Lost wages

    e. In appropriate circumstances, law permits damages to be recovered by spouses, children and parents of negligently injured people for the loss of the love, care, affection, companionship and other pleasures of the family relationship that are lost due to malpractice

3. Who can be held accountable for medical malpractice?

Any person who provides medical care to you and is a "health care provider" as defined by Florida Statutes.

4. What if I did not end up with the desired outcome after treatment?  Is that considered medical malpractice?

In most cases, no.  If the desired outcome had nothing to do with the doctor’s skill of care exercised, then the likelihood of medical malpractice is very slim.

6. What are typical medical malpractice claims?

    a. Failure to properly diagnose a medical condition

    b. Failure to properly treat a diagnosed condition

    c. Failure to obtain an “informed consent” from the patient prior to treatment

7. What is “informed consent”?

Informed consent is an individual's agreement to allow medical treatment to be rendered based upon full disclosure of all of the facts necessary to make an intelligent decision.

8. What are the statutes of limitations to bring a medical malpractice case?

The statutes of limitations vary between state and case.

9.  Do I need a lawyer to pursue a medical malpractice case?

Yes.  Medical malpractice cases are very complex and difficult to pursue.  A medical malpractice attorney will obtain all the proper documentation – proper medical records, laboratory results, pathological reports, and all other reports resulting from testing.  An experienced medical malpractice attorney will then review your case with expert witnesses to determine the best outcome for your case.

Patients trust their doctors to prescribe the proper drugs for their health conditions. However, due to improper diagnosis or negligence by the pharmacy, hospital staff or doctor, the wrong dose or medication is often prescribed. The stressful nature of the medical profession in which doctors, especially emergency room physicians, see numerous patients every day makes this an all-too-common occurrence. These prescription medication errors can result in serious personal injury and death.

If you've been injured because you were given the wrong drug or an incorrect dosage, you need to know your legal options.

According to an Institute of Medicine report, between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths may result each year from medical errors in hospitals alone -- and more than 7,000 deaths each year are related to medications. The FDA evaluated reports of fatal medication errors that it received in a five-year period and found that the most common types of errors involved administering an improper dose (41 percent), giving the wrong drug (16 percent), and using the wrong route of administration (16 percent).

The most common medication errors concern the type and dose of prescription medications. Specifically, a doctor might prescribe or a pharmacy might fill the incorrect amount of a drug -- or the wrong drug -- for a particular disorder or disease. Medication and prescription-related errors in Florida include:

    * Patient’s medical history-related errors: A patient’s medical history must be understood to prescribe the correct medication. Allergies, age, weight, previous conditions and lab tests are all crucial factors in determining appropriate medication.

    * Misplaced decimal points: A doctor can very easily prescribe the wrong amount of medication simply by placing the dosage decimal point in the wrong place, leading to under-treatment or, even worse, an overdose.

    * Drug name confusion and illegible handwriting: A doctor must clearly write or abbreviate the appropriate medication to be filled. Any errors can result in improper medication which may have tragic consequences.

    * Confusing packaging: There have been well-publicized cases of overdoses among infants who received adult doses of drugs because of similarities in the packaging between infant and adult products.

While the correct medication may effectively treat the patient’s condition, improper medication can be deadly. Many common injuries caused by medication errors include:

    * Incontinence

    * Impotence

    * Disfiguring skin eruptions

    * Stroke

    * Coma

    * Cardiac arrest

    * Respiratory problems

    * Organ failure or organ damage

    * Allergic reaction

    * Neurological damage

    * Brain injury

    * Overdose

    * Prescription addiction

    * Sensory damage

    * Hemorrhaging

    * Psychological impairment (including depression)

One of the most common forms of medical malpractice is an error or mistake in diagnosis. An improper diagnosis occurs when a doctor fails to identify the presence of a disease or notes the presence of a disease when the patient is in fact healthy. Diseases that go undetected can result in debilitating and permanent personal injury or even death. For example, a delayed diagnosis of cancer can result in the spread of the disease to a point beyond which medical intervention can help. The progression of a disease can result in substantially higher medical bills, pain and suffering for the patient and his or her loved ones and even death.

Diseases and injuries that are commonly misdiagnosed include:

    * Ovarian cancer

    * Stroke

    * Heart disease, including acute myocardial infarction (heart attack)

    * Diabetes

    * Lung cancer

    * Pulmonary embolism

    * Testicular cancer

    * Bacterial meningitis

    * Cervical cancer

    * Prostate cancer

    * Breast cancer

    * Tuberculosis

    * Sepsis

The failure to diagnosis a condition may be caused by improper treatment and testing or by the failure to recognize a patient’s symptoms due to lack of experience, competence, or attentiveness on the part of the doctor, nurse or other hospital staff. While even doctors make mistakes, patients should not have to pay the physical and financial price for those errors.

http://www.flsenate.gov/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=Ch0766/SEC110.HTM&Title=->2007->Ch0766->Section 110#0766.110