Sadly, there are many ways you or a loved one can be harmed due to a medical professional’s negligence. This is hard to perceive since we hold medical workers to such a high standard. At Elstein Legal, we are committed to aggressively fighting for you or your loved one if you have sustained injuries as a result of medical negligence.
Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Miami
When you or a loved one suffers an injury or illness that requires hospital care, the last thing you want is for the condition to worsen because of health care providers. At times, sadly, hospitals and other medical providers focus more on profit rather than caring about the wellbeing of their patients. This can result in serious health-related injuries and complications.
If you have suffered an injury because of the careless or negligent acts of a medical professional, an experienced attorney would be your best bet in receiving the compensation you deserve.
What Is Medical Malpractice?
Much like when a driver causes an accident due to negligence on the road, a medical professional can be negligent in their field of practice. Doctors, nurses and other medical workers are, of course, held to a high standard. We put our lives in their hands at our most vulnerable moments, so we expect to be relieved of our pain rather than coming across new issues.
For instance, a practicing doctor or nurse will keep in mind many factors such as the age, weight and prior health conditions of the patient before to prescribing a serious medication. They should to take into account the patient’s blood pressure, sugar levels, and so on. There are certain rules and standards of care in the medical field when treating patients, and when those standards are not followed medical professionals should be held accountable.
We hold medical professionals up to a specific standard, and if a treatment does not meet it and results in further injury to the patient, it is called medical malpractice.
What Defines Medical Malpractice in Miami?
Miami medical malpractice lawsuits can involve a wide range of potential complaints and incidents. Common examples include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Physicians misdiagnosing patients, or delaying diagnosis
- Failure to order necessary diagnostic tests
- Medication or anesthesia administration errors
- Surgical errors
- Prescribing an unnecessary or otherwise wrong treatment plan
However, it’s important to understand that unwanted consequences resulting from medical treatment do not necessarily always justify medical malpractice lawsuits. To win a medical malpractice case, you need to demonstrate that the injury you experienced was not a foreseeable risk.
For example, perhaps your doctor prescribed a needed surgery, while also letting you know the surgery does carry the potential risk of causing some harm. Their judgment may be that the risks of not getting the surgery are greater than those of undergoing it.
If the surgery does cause the type of harm your doctor described, you likely can’t build a strong case against them. The risk was foreseeable.
This is why you need to work with a reliable medical malpractice law firm in Miami, FL from the start. Determining whether you have a reasonable case isn’t easy if you don’t have the proper experience. When a skilled Miami, Florida medical malpractice attorney reviews your case, they’ll explain whether it’s worth your time and money to pursue compensation. If they determine it is, they’ll leverage their professional expertise to help you secure the ideal outcome.
Miami Medical Malpractice Essentials: The Standard of Care
The idea of the “standard of care” can help you better understand why some complaints of medical malpractice are valid and some are not. Florida statutes define the standard of care for healthcare providers as “that level of care, skill, and treatment which, in light of all relevant surrounding circumstances, is recognized as acceptable and appropriate by reasonably prudent similar health care providers.”
In other words, while not all healthcare providers are equally skilled, they generally all undergo rigorous training to ensure they are properly equipped to offer effective and necessary treatment. Medical malpractice cases involve instances when the care a medical professional offers significantly falls short of the care another reasonable healthcare provider would offer.
This highlights yet another benefit of hiring a strong personal injury lawyer in Miami, Florida. In medical malpractice cases, it is the plaintiff’s responsibility to prove their healthcare provider’s actions breached the standard of care to which they are held. This can be a complicated process that may involve collecting substantial evidence, coordinating with third-party experts, documenting the consequences of a medical professional’s alleged actions, and much more.
How a Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Miami, FL Can Help Win Your Case
Winning your case basically requires meeting certain essential criteria. Specifically, you and your Miami personal injury attorney must:
- Prove that the actions and/or inactions of the healthcare provider in question were wrong, and deviated from what most other healthcare providers would have done in a similar context
- Prove your injury was the direct result of the healthcare provider’s error
- Prove measurable damages, such as medical bills, loss of income, or pain and suffering resulted from the medical error
Following the Right Steps When Filing
Additionally, the entire process of filing a medical malpractice lawsuit in Florida involves a number of required steps that are much easier to complete with the help of a Miami, Florida medical negligence attorney. They are:
Pre-suit Investigation
Before actually filing a medical malpractice lawsuit in Miami, you (with, theoretically, the assistance of counsel) need to provide the responsible parties a 90-day investigation period. According to the Florida Bar, along with determining whether you genuinely have a valid medical malpractice case, this period should also serve to identify who the liable parties are.
Once the investigation begins, a plaintiff’s counsel must also alert all prospective defendants of their intention to potentially file a lawsuit. After providing notice, plaintiffs can’t file lawsuits for 90 days. This also gives the insurers of defendants time to investigate their liability. On top of that, before alerting prospective defendants of the intention to file a lawsuit, a claimant must first secure an affidavit from another medical professional who, upon reviewing the case, determines the standard of care was breached.
Filing Suit
After the investigative period, a potential defendant may provide the claimant with an official rejection of their claim. This essentially means the investigation they and their insurer conducted led them to believe the claim made against them was not valid. After receiving this rejection, a claimant has 60 days to file a lawsuit. If you don’t file your lawsuit by this deadline, you waive the right to take future legal action.
Accepting Offer
There are instances in which a medical professional will accept a claim of medical malpractice after the 90-day investigative period. They will typically then make an offer. You then must decide whether to take this offer or to file a lawsuit.
These rules for filing a medical malpractice lawsuit in Florida are quite strict. Making a single error during this complicated process could prevent you from filing. Luckily, with the help of Elstein Legal, you’ll be in the hands of an experienced personal injury lawyer in Miami, Florida, who will help you follow the correct procedures every step of the way.
Statute of Limitations for Miami Medical Negligence Lawsuits
It’s also worth noting that you should act fast if you believe you may have a strong medical malpractice case. The statute of limitations typically requires plaintiffs to file medical negligence lawsuits in Miami within two years of the plaintiff discovering their injuries resulting from a medical error. You can’t file a lawsuit if you miss that deadline. That said, when the 90-day investigative period begins, the statute of limitations essentially pauses. For instance, if you start the 90-day investigative period, but the statute of limitations deadline is in 40 days, that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to file a lawsuit.
Compensation in Miami Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
Some specific damages for which you can pursue compensation in a Miami, Florida medical negligence lawsuit include:
- Medical bills, both past and future
- Rehabilitation and/or nursing care costs
- Pain and suffering
- Disfigurement
- Emotional distress
- Loss of income/wages (this may also include a reduction in your earning capacity)
Those are just a few examples. However, they illustrate how the financial and personal consequences of medical malpractice can vary substantially from one person to another. For example, some victims of medical malpractice in Miami only incur a few thousand dollars in costs. Others may incur millions in costs over the course of a lifetime. Their quality of life may also be permanently diminished.
Partner With a Medical Malpractice Attorney in Miami to Calculate What You’re Owed
Fortunately, the Florida Supreme Court has ruled that there are no limits on how much money in compensation victims of medical malpractice can pursue. That said, calculating how much compensation you deserve can be tricky without legal expertise.
For instance, payment for your medical expenses might not be the only compensation you’re owed. If a Miami medical malpractice injury has directly caused you to lose enjoyment of life in some capacity, you could also account for that when calculating damages. Doing so requires the application of certain methods that medical negligence attorneys in Miami, FL use to put a dollar value on damages that may not be as tangible or measurable as medical bills.
That’s another key benefit of choosing the right medical negligence lawyer in Miami. A qualified legal professional like Brian L. Elstein will determine how much money you’re entitled to, and he will take all necessary steps to optimize your chances of securing it.
Why Elstein Legal Should Be Your Medical Malpractice Law Firm
You have suffered enough already without the added complications due to a healthcare professional’s negligence. Let us take it from here so you can focus on recovering mentally and physically.
If a medical professional is not meeting the “prevailing professional standard of care,” and you have received an injury due to their negligence, Elstein Legal is here to help. We will investigate your injury in depth and will work with medical experts to understand the exact factors that worsened your situation. We are ready to put together and file all necessary documentation during the legal process, and represent you in all hearings or proceedings. We litigate all types of medical malpractice claims including negligence, inadequate safety procedures, surgical errors, anesthesia mistakes and medication errors. At Elstein Legal, we look into a wide variety of medical malpractice claims, from a simple infection to serious brain damage, including wrongful death claims involving malpractice.
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