Medical Malpractice Lawyer

Florida Medical Malpractice Lawyers Whittel & Melton FL Medical Malpractice Attorneys Representing Florida Victims of Florida Physicians Florida Hospital Negligence Call Us Today Statewide 866-608-5529 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Orlando-Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Jacksonville-Gainesville

Our experienced Florida Medical Malpractice Lawyers and Florida Hospital Negligence Attorneys at Whittel & Melton are ready and able to fight for justice on behalf of all victims who have suffered injuries or have lost family members due to the negligence of medical personnel.

You place a high amount of trust in your doctors, nurses, and hospital staff to provide you with the healthcare that you need. Mistakes happen to everyone, but when medical personnel violate your trust and leave you worse off than you were before your treatment, you can start to lose hope. You may be dealing with steadily climbing medical bills that you cannot pay along with adverse long-term health effects. Our Florida Medical Malpractice Lawyers and Hospital Negligence Attorneys at Whittel & Melton are here to help you through this difficult time so that you can focus on recovering properly. We will handle every aspect of your medical malpractice claim so that you don’t have to deal with the headache. You have been through enough, let us fight for justice on your behalf.

What is Medical Malpractice or Hospital Negligence in Florida?

Medical malpractice or Hospital Negligence happens when a patient is injured due to the negligence of a medical care provider or an institution, such as a nursing home, assisted living facility, hospital, urgent care facility, or clinic. While mistakes can and do happen, medical malpractice refers to providing medical that fails to meet the expected duty of care set forth by the medical community, placing the patient at risk for severe injury or death. The term standard of care refers to what another reasonably careful physical or medical provider would have done in the same or similar situated circumstances. A further breakdown of this determines what actions, procedures, and other methods of care would have been used by other medical professionals treating a patient with a similar type of diagnosis, symptoms or injury.

Is Medical Malpractice or Hospital Negligence Common in Florida?

Medical malpractice and Hospital Negligence is a lot more common than you may think. While you may only see one or two high profile, multi-million dollar lawsuits on the news from time to time, cases of misdiagnosis, surgical errors, neglect, and incorrect medications or dosages happen way too often. A vast majority of victims of medical malpractice never take legal action against the doctor or medical institution responsible for their suffering. And even worse, many patients fail to realize they have been the victim of medical malpractice.

Statistics Regarding Medical Malpractice and Hospital Negligence in the U.S.

• A recent study conducted by Johns Hopkins concluded that 250,000 people in the U.S. die every year due to completely preventable medical errors. Thousands more are injured due to these medical mistakes and hospital negligence. This same study found that medical mistakes are the top third cause of death in America.
• Adverse medication effects cause 106,000 patients to die each year in the U.S., according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.
• According to the National Practitioner Databank, from 2009-2018 three states took the lead in medical malpractice claims in the U.S.: New York ranked no.1 with 16,688 cases, California took second place with 13,157 cases, and Florida claimed the third spot on the list with 10,788 reports of medical malpractice.

Statewide Medical Malpractice and Hospital Negligence Attorneys
Key West, West Palm Beach, Naples, Cape Coral, Sarasota, New Port Richey,
Spring Hill, Inverness, Ocala, The Villages, Daytona Beach, Tallahassee

What are the Types of Medical Malpractice and Hospital Negligence Claims Our Florida Medical Malpractice Lawyers and Florida Hospital Negligence Attorneys Consider?

Our Florida Medical Malpractice Lawyers and Hospital Negligence Attorneys at Whittel & Melton consult regularly on medical malpractice claims of all varieties. If you or a family member has been the victim of medical malpractice or hospital negligence we want to help you fight for justice. We urge you to call us at 866-608-5529 or contact us online if you have experienced any of the following:

Failure to diagnose: This happens when a patient seeks advice from a medical professional about a medical complaint they have, but the medical professional fails to identify or diagnose the patient’s ailment by not running the proper tests or not asking enough questions to find out more. Doctor’s and other medical professionals may simply ignore a patient’s complaints, tell them there is nothing to worry about and any issues are all in their head, or just fail to take their complaints seriously. Whatever the reason, a medical professional’s failure to diagnose a patient can result in devastating consequences. Let’s say the patient has cancer and the doctor or hospital waits too long to diagnose the patient’s condition, The cancer could spread and by the time it is found it can be too late to do anything to save the patient’s life.

Delaying a Diagnosis: Similar to failing to diagnose, this deals with a medical professional eventually properly diagnosing a patient. However, this delay could result in a more advanced disease, or even a fatal disease at this point.

Misdiagnosis: This is unfortunately very common. Many diseases have similar symptoms, and if a doctor does not conduct enough tests, then they can diagnose a patient with something that may actually be something else entirely. What happens next is that patient’s end up taking the wrong medications or undergo procedures that are not appropriate for their condition. These medications and medical procedures could actually harm the patient and prevent them from getting the medical care they need, and possible be fatal.

Post-op Negligence: Postoperative negligence is absolutely a form of medical malpractice. After a patient is out of surgery, the care they receive is critical to their survival. Examples of post-op negligence issues are sepsis, Staph infections, internal bleeding, MRSA infections, blood clots, urinary tract infections, pulmonary embolism, necrotizing fasciitis, viral infections, etc.

Birth Injuries: This can include any injuries to mother or infant during pregnancy, delivery, and right after delivery. Birth trauma caused by excessive force or pressure to the infant’s head or body, C-section complications, oxygen deprivation to infant (birth asphyxia), infections, and numerous other complications can all lead to permanent disabilities, which could lead to cognitive emotional, and physical problems for the baby. Many birth injuries can be prevented by hospital, surgical center or doctors following proper standards of care and closely monitoring any potential issues during pregnancy, labor, and delivery. If a medical professional’s negligence results in a birth injury, then this falls under the scope of medical malpractice.

Postpartum Recovery Negligence: Hundreds of women die every year in the U.S. from postpartum complications, and about two-thirds of these deaths are entirely preventable. The postpartum period covers the time from birth until six to eight weeks after delivery. This is the time a woman’s body is healing from delivery, so it is crucial to the mother’s life to recognize and treat any medical complications. Blood clots, postpartum depression, infections, postpartum hemorrhage, and all other infections can be life-threatening to a mother.

Surgical Mistakes: These are errors that should never happen to patients, such as operating on the wrong body part, operating on the wrong person, leaving a medical instrument inside the patient after surgery, etc. Most doctor’s following the proper protocols should never have these issues. However because some hospitals have inadequate or rushed staff, surgeons who are overworked, and inexperienced residents, these mistakes do happen. Nevertheless, none of these mistakes are acceptable and can all result in a medical malpractice claim.

Medication Errors: Medication is often necessary to treat patients’ ailments. Medications can actually save lives, unless they are given incorrectly. Any medication errors, from prescribing the wrong meds to dispensing the wrong dosages can result in medical malpractice claims.

Misread MRIs, X-rays and Ultrasounds: These are all very important tests to help medical professionals determine a diagnosis for patients. When these are misread, then serious injuries or illnesses can be left undiagnosed leading to a slew of health problems for the patient.

Mistakes with Anesthesia: Anesthesia mistakes can be lethal to patients so it is absolutely vital that proper care is taken when administering drugs. A patient that is given a drug they are allergic to or given a combo of drugs that react badly with one another can all result in an overdose or death. Faulty equipment and improper use of machines are also common mistakes that can result in the patient suffering harm.

Mistakes in Emergency Rooms: Emergency rooms can be quite chaotic and ER doctors and staff are busy and have to make quick decisions with very little time or information. There are all kinds of errors that can be made in an emergency room setting that can lead to medical malpractice claims, such as medication errors, surgical mistakes, and misdiagnosis to name a few.

Mistakes by Nurses and Hospital Staff: There is a nursing shortage in the U.S., which can reduce the level of care patients at hospitals receive. Nurses are overworked, tired, and stressed, which can lead to deadly mistakes with medications and post-op care.

Hospital Mistakes: These errors can be many things we already touched on such as medication errors, misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis, anesthesia errors, post-op infections, surgical errors, unnecessary tests or procedures, discharging patients too soon, inadequate follow-up care, etc. Also hospitals are filled with viruses and bacteria being constantly cycled through, so patients can easily develop infections following a surgery, like MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and Staph infections from staphylococcus bacteria. These can enter a patient’s body through their wounds, catheters, and even surgical sites and can be deadly.

Nursing Home Errors: Nursing home staff can cause significant harm to their elderly patients when they do not prevent a patient from suffering bedsores or falls, when they fail to diagnose injuries in a timely manner, when they do not properly manage life-threatening conditions like sepsis (organ failure caused by infection) or fail to prevent other infections like urinary tract infections, skin infections, influenza, gastroenteritis, diverticulitis, and now the coronavirus. While it is possible for a patient to pick up an infection anywhere, if it can be shown that the nursing home was negligent in protecting their patients from contracting infections, then they could be on the line for medical malpractice.

Wrongful Death: This is any situation where medical negligence results in the death of a patient. Medical mistakes cause way too many deaths every year in the U.S. bringing immense pain and suffering the families of these patients. Dealing with the loss of a loved one after they are taken because of a medical error is never easy, but a medical malpractice claim can help you seek justice on their behalf.

What Florida Medical Malpractice Damages Can We Recover From a Doctor, Physician, Hospital or Surgical Center?

If you or a family member suffered harm or died as a result of negligence by a medical professional, then you may be entitled to economic damages and non-economic damages. Economic damages can include past, present, and future medical bills in addition to lost wages if the medical malpractice has prevented the person from being able to work. Non-economic damages refer to mental anguish, inconvenience, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of companionship, disfigurement, etc. It can be hard to place a monetary value on these types of damages so we can help you come up with a just number for the jury to consider.

You may also be entitled to punitive damages if it can be determined that a medical professional acted intentionally and with a reckless disregard for patient safety.

In Florida, medical malpractice damages are calculated by a jury who will hear both sides of the case and suggest an amount they think should be awarded. Non-economic damages are capped at $500,000 for medical malpractice claims in the state of Florida. A jury will apply all relevant factors to come up with a number they think is fair in regards to non-economic damages.

Contact Us Today at 866-608-5529 for a FREE Consultation

Being the victim of medical malpractice or losing a close relative because of medical malpractice can take a huge toll on your life. You deserve to get justice so that you can start to move forward with your life. You need the best lawyer possible to help you fight. You have choices when hiring a medical malpractice attorney, and you want to put your trust in one that has a track record of recovering large financial awards for their clients. Call us today at 866-608-5529 or contact us online to arrange a free consultation with our Florida Medical Malpractice Lawyers at Whittel & Melton so that you can learn more about what we can do for you.

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