Florida Medical Malpractice Lawyers
Florida medical malpractice lawyers help those who have been injured by a medical treatment, birth injury, misdiagnosis, or other instance of sub-standard care. If you have had a negative medical event in any medical setting, whether it’s a hospital or dental setting, it can be worthwhile to consult with a medical malpractice lawyer. Often, it can be hard to tell whether you have a claim unless you consult with attorneys.
Fortunately, Flaxman Law Group makes it easy to schedule a consultation. Just contact us to set up a free, confidential, no-pressure consultation in our offices in Miami, Homestead, or Hollywood. If you cannot travel, we may be able to visit you or to set up a virtual consultation.
Why Choose Flaxman Law Group for Your Florida Medical Malpractice Case
There are many Florida medical malpractice lawyers you can choose from, but we created Flaxman Law Group because we saw a real need for compassionate and results-driven representation. Our boutique law firm is different because we offer:
- Exceptional communication. When you call, you speak to a Flaxman, not a case manager. We speak English, Spanish, and Creole and we always reply to your emails and calls promptly. We also make sure you have your attorney’s number, so you can connect directly.
- Decades of combined experience. With over 60 years of practice in South Florida courts and at negotiation tables, we have worked on many medical malpractice cases.
- Insurance insider advantage. We’ve worked for insurers, so we know how they try to deny or minimize claims. We speak the same language as insurance companies, so we know how to fight back when they try to minimize claims.
- Proven results. We have nearly $1 billion recovered for clients, rivaling outcomes of much larger firms. We have secured multi-million-dollar verdicts and settlements, helping catastrophically injured clients get the medical care and personal support they need.
- Personalized care. We also help with medical referrals, bills, and support services. Most law firms will not do this, but we believe it is part of treating you right.
- Community presence. We have hundreds of 5-star reviews and decades of local presence in Miami, Hollywood, and Homestead. We’re active members of these communities and are always looking for ways to give back.
- No upfront fees. We work on contingency. If we don’t win, you don’t pay.
If you or a loved one has suffered harm from a medical mistake in Florida, don’t wait. Contact Flaxman Law Group today for a free consultation. We’ll review your case, explain your options in plain language, and help you take the first step toward justice.
What Qualifies as Medical Malpractice in Florida
In Florida, not every medical mistake rises to the level of malpractice. To succeed with a medical malpractice claim, the law requires proving that a provider failed to meet the accepted “standard of care.”
The “standard of care” refers to what a reasonably skilled healthcare professional in the same specialty would have done under similar circumstances. If a provider falls short of that and you’re injured as a result, you may have a case.
Some examples that may qualify as malpractice under Florida law include:
- A surgeon operating on the wrong body part or leaving an instrument inside a patient.
- A doctor failing to diagnose a condition that other physicians would have recognized, leading to delayed or incorrect treatment.
- A nurse giving the wrong dosage of medication, resulting in serious complications.
- A hospital failing to follow proper infection-control procedures, causing preventable infections.
It can be difficult for patients to know whether their complication, illness, or negative outcome was caused by honest error or by a poor standard of care. Medical professionals and facilities do not announce when they have failed a patient and in fact may go out of their way to minimize or cover up errors. Consulting with Florida medical malpractice lawyers can help you understand whether you have a case.
Common Types of Medical Negligence Cases
With busy hospitals in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Hollywood handling thousands of patients daily, mistakes are more likely when systems are stretched thin. Even with limited resources, however, medical professionals and facilities are required to maintain a reasonable standard of care. When they fail to do so, they can be held liable.
Some of the most common medical negligence cases we handle include:
Misdiagnosis or Delayed Diagnosis
Failing to correctly identify a serious condition like cancer, heart disease, or stroke can cost patients critical time. A misdiagnosed heart attack in an emergency room, for example, can mean the difference between recovery and lifelong disability or even a fatality.
Misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis can happen if doctors dismiss symptoms or fail to order the correct diagnostic tests. In some cases, misdiagnosis happens because doctors failed to read the results of diagnostic tests correctly or failed to follow up with results.
Surgical Errors
Operating rooms are high-pressure environments. Still, mistakes such as wrong-site surgery, anesthesia errors, or post-operative neglect are preventable. A single oversight in surgery can lead to infection, organ damage, or permanent disability.
Anesthesia errors are a common type of surgical error. This occurs when patients are not given the correct dose or are not monitored through surgery. This can result in patients waking during the procedure or suffering severe or permanent brain injury.
Medical Device Product Liability
When patients get an implant or medical device, they expect it to have been tested for safety. However, class action and product liability claims are filed all the time due to unsafe joint replacements, IUDs, and other medical products that have hurt or even killed patients.
Medication Errors
South Florida pharmacies and hospitals serve a diverse population, with prescriptions often written in different languages or abbreviations. Misreading a prescription, giving the wrong drug, or failing to monitor interactions can have devastating results.
Birth Injuries
Mistakes during labor and delivery can affect both mother and child. Common malpractice claims involve delayed C-sections, improper use of forceps or vacuums, or failure to monitor fetal distress or the mother. These errors can lead to conditions like cerebral palsy or brachial plexus injuries as well as fatal injury for the mother.
Hospital Negligence
From unsanitary conditions to understaffing, hospitals themselves can be held accountable. A patient who develops sepsis due to a hospital-acquired infection, for instance, may have a malpractice claim against the facility, not just individual doctors.
Failure to Obtain Informed Consent
Patients have the right to understand the risks of a procedure before agreeing to it. If you weren’t told about potential complications and suffered one of those very complications, the provider may be liable.
In addition to these claims, there may be additional types of claims against a doctor or facility. For example, if you slip and fall in a hospital, are assaulted or intentionally harmed by a medical professional, or are otherwise harmed due to negligence in a medical setting, you may have a claim.
Injuries Resulting From Medical Errors
The injuries caused by medical negligence often require lifelong care and create financial strain. Some of the most common consequences we see include:
- Permanent disability. A botched surgery or untreated condition can leave a patient unable to work or care for themselves. This often means a lifetime of medical costs and loss of independence.
- Severe infections. Improper sterilization or contaminated instruments can lead to sepsis, amputations, or death. In warm, humid climates like South Florida’s, infections can spread quickly without proper care.
- Brain damage. Errors involving oxygen deprivation, anesthesia, or untreated strokes can cause irreversible brain injury. Families often face the heartache of caring for a loved one who will never return to their prior level of functioning.
- Birth-related injuries. For newborns, mistakes in delivery can cause conditions like Erb’s palsy, fractures, or hypoxic brain injury. These injuries can affect the child’s entire future and create enormous care costs for families.
- Emotional trauma. Many patients develop anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, post-traumatic stress or other conditions after a serious medical error. This is known as medical trauma and it can be debilitating. It can also impact a patient’s willingness to trust medical professionals and seek care in the future. In turn, this can cause life-long medical complications.
If you have been harmed, it’s important to get an accurate diagnosis as soon as possible and to start treatment. It’s also important to consult with Florida medical malpractice lawyers and to seek any compensation you may be entitled to, so you can pay for the additional care you will need.
Why These Injuries Demand Strong Legal Help
Medical malpractice cases are often met with fierce resistance from hospitals and insurers. They have teams of lawyers, expert witnesses, and endless resources to argue that nothing was done wrong. That’s why it’s crucial to have attorneys who not only understand the medicine but also the tactics used against patients.
Without strong legal help, you may end up getting no compensation at all, but the costs of a medical error can be substantial. Florida medical malpractice lawyers help you seek maximum recovery, so you can pay for therapy, treatment, and the other expenses you will face. With resources in hand, you are better prepared to face the future after medical negligence.
Flaxman Law Group has recovered nearly $1 billion for injured clients, including multiple seven-figure outcomes in complex cases. But what sets us apart is how we treat our clients along the way. We understand medical trauma and we go out of our way to make sure you get the support you need.
Contact Flaxman Law Group Today
For a free, no-obligation consultation. We are available 24/7, and there is never a fee unless we win.
Who Can Be Held Liable for Medical Malpractice?
When something goes wrong during medical care, most patients initially think of their doctor. But in Florida, responsibility for malpractice can extend beyond your physician. Depending on the situation, several parties may be legally accountable:
- Doctors and surgeons. Physicians carry the most obvious responsibility. A surgeon who operates on the wrong site, an internist who overlooks a serious infection, or a pediatrician who fails to diagnose meningitis could all be liable for malpractice. In busy South Florida hospitals, patients sometimes get treated by multiple specialists. Any of them may be responsible for an error.
- Nurses and support staff. Nurses often serve as the link between doctors and patients, administering medication, monitoring vital signs, and catching early warning signs. A nurse, physician’s aide, or other support staff member who fails to chart critical information, misreads a doctor’s order, or overlooks changes in a patient’s condition may contribute directly to serious injury.
- Hospitals and clinics. Medical facilities themselves can be held liable if their policies or conditions contribute to patient harm. For example understaffing, inadequate sanitation, or poor hiring practices can all point to negligence.
- Pharmacists and pharmacies. A pharmacy may mislabel a prescription, dispense the wrong dosage, or fail to check for dangerous drug interactions. In these cases, they can be held liable for any serious harm done.
- Specialists outside the hospital. Radiologists, anesthesiologists, birth doulas, lab technicians, and other professionals often work independently of hospitals yet play a critical role in patient safety. They can be individually liable if they fail to maintain a reasonable standard of care.
- Medical professionals outside of traditional settings. Your eye doctor, orthodontist, dentist, or an EMT may also be held liable if they fail to provide a reasonable standard of care. Any time you receive any medical care, you deserve proper treatment.
- Medical spas and cosmetic surgeons. A growing number of people have been injured when seeking cosmetic procedures. Botched filler, surgery, and other treatments can be the basis of a personal injury claim.
It’s not always clear who is at fault. For example, if you receive a stage 4 cancer diagnosis, it may not be clear whether this is a simple error or whether a medical professional or lab tech read tests wrong. In these cases, it is best to consult with Florida medical malpractice lawyers, who can investigate the situation and get you answers.
How Florida’s Medical Malpractice Laws Work
Florida has some of the strictest medical malpractice laws in the nation, under Florida Statute §766.106, which can make pursuing a case feel challenging.
Before even filing a lawsuit, Florida law requires patients to go through a pre-suit investigation. This means:
- Collecting medical records.
- Having a qualified medical expert in the same specialty review the case and provide an affidavit.
- Sending formal notice to the healthcare provider accused of malpractice.
The provider then has 90 days to respond. During this time, settlement negotiations may take place. If the provider denies the claim, the patient can then file a lawsuit.
Generally, you have two years from the time you knew, or should have known, that malpractice occurred (Florida Statutes § 95.11). However, there may be more time to file in cases of minors or situations where a defendant leaves the state or tries to use fraud or concealment to hide wrongdoing.
Florida follows a modified comparative negligence system. If the defense determines that you contributed to your harm (for example, by not following medical advice) your compensation may be reduced. However, you can still pursue damages.
Hospitals and insurers know these laws inside and out. They hire aggressive defense attorneys whose job is to minimize payouts. At Flaxman Law Group, we level the playing field. Our background in insurance defense means we know exactly how these companies try to deny claims, and we know how to fight back.
What to Do if You Suspect Medical Negligence
When suspicion of negligence arises, knowing what steps to take can protect you. Here’s what we recommend:
1. Take Care of Your Health First
If you believe something went wrong, seek immediate medical attention from another provider. For example, if an infection was overlooked, going to another hospital quickly could prevent it from becoming life-threatening. Don’t wait until legal matters are resolved to get the care you need.
2. Gather Documentation
Start collecting:
- All medical records, including test results, prescriptions, and discharge notes.
- A journal of symptoms, dates, and conversations with providers.
- Bills and insurance correspondence.
In South Florida’s larger hospital systems, records can be difficult to navigate. An experienced malpractice attorney can request and organize them for you, but starting a personal file now helps preserve key details.
3. Avoid Discussing the Case with Insurers Alone
Insurance companies may reach out quickly to discuss what happened. Be careful. Anything you say could be used to minimize your claim. It’s best to let your attorney handle these communications.
4. Contact a Malpractice Lawyer Promptly
Florida’s deadlines are strict. The earlier you involve an attorney, the better your chances of preserving evidence and building a strong case. At Flaxman Law Group, consultations are free, and we don’t charge fees unless we win. That means you can call as soon as you suspect negligence without worrying about upfront costs.
The Role of a Florida Medical Malpractice Lawyer
Essentially, a malpractice lawyer’s role is about protection: Protection of your rights, your financial future, and your ability to focus on getting better. In Florida, the healthcare system is complex, with large hospital networks like Baptist Health South Florida, Memorial Healthcare System, and Cleveland Clinic Florida dominating care. These institutions, and their insurers, have teams of attorneys ready to fight back against claims.
Without skilled representation, patients are often left without the compensation they need to address lost wages, medical trauma, medical bills, and the many other costs associated with a medical error. An attorney’s job is to take care of all the details of your claim and to seek compensation for you.
Proving Negligence in a Medical Malpractice Claim
Not every negative medical result qualifies as malpractice. Under Florida law, you need to prove that the provider failed to meet the professional standard of care. In other words, you need to show that another reasonably skilled healthcare professional in the same situation would have acted differently and avoided harm.
Here’s how negligence is typically proven:
- Establishing a duty of care. When you check into a hospital in Miami Gardens or visit an urgent care clinic in Hollywood, your provider takes on a legal duty to treat you according to accepted medical standards. That duty is the foundation of any malpractice case.
- Showing a breach of duty. This is where expert testimony is useful. Did the ER physician at Jackson Memorial miss clear signs of a stroke? Did the surgeon at Mount Sinai leave behind a surgical sponge? Breaches can range from obvious mistakes to more subtle failures, like not ordering appropriate diagnostic tests. An expert witness can explain exactly where the standard of care violated expected practices.
- Connecting the breach to the harm. You must link the medical negligence directly to your injury. For example, if a doctor in Coral Gables prescribes the wrong medication and it causes organ damage, that connection must be clearly documented.
- Demonstrating damages. Finally, you must prove measurable harm. This can include medical bills, lost wages from missed work, pain and suffering, and other losses.
At Flaxman Law Group, we work with respected medical experts throughout South Florida who can review your case and provide testimony that helps make the facts clear.
Compensation Available to Malpractice Victims
Compensation in a Florida malpractice case is designed to ease the burdens of medical negligence, which can help make rebuilding possible. Depending on your injuries and situations, you may be able to seek damages for:
- Past and future medical bills.
- Lost wages and reduced earning capacity.
- Pain and suffering.
- Emotional distress.
- Loss of enjoyment of life.
- Incidental costs, such as the cost of making your home accessible for your disability.
If malpractice leads to loss of life, surviving family members may pursue compensation for funeral expenses, lost companionship, and loss of financial support. This can help families start to rebuild after a birth injury, delayed cancer diagnosis, or other fatal medical mistake.
In rare cases involving reckless or intentional misconduct, Florida courts may award punitive damages to punish the provider and deter similar conduct.
It’s important to understand that insurers often undervalue these damages. They may argue that your pre-existing condition was the “real cause” of your suffering or that your pain isn’t as severe as you claim. Flaxman Law Group has successfully challenged these tactics, securing nearly $1 billion for clients over the years.
Florida’s Pre-Suit Requirements and Deadlines
Florida makes medical malpractice claims more complicated than most other personal injury cases. Before you can even file a lawsuit, you must go through a mandatory pre-suit process.
You can’t simply walk into the courthouse and file a malpractice complaint in Florida. Instead, your attorney must first notify each potential defendant that you intend to file a claim. This notice must include a verified written medical opinion from a qualified expert in the same speciality, confirming that malpractice likely occurred. You need to ensure service by sending those notices through registered mail, process servers, or another method that ensures defendants receive the notice.
Once the notice is served, the defendant has 90 days to investigate. During this period, you cannot proceed with a lawsuit. The healthcare provider’s legal team and insurance company will review records, interview staff, and decide whether to admit liability, make a settlement offer, or reject the claim.
The Importance of Expert Testimony in Your Case
In Florida, malpractice cases revolve around expert testimony. Judges and juries aren’t medical professionals, so they rely heavily on specialists to explain what should have been done and how the defendant failed to meet the accepted standard of care.
Florida law is strict about who can testify. An expert must practice in the same specialty as the defendant. For example, if you’re suing a cardiologist in Coral Gables for failing to diagnose heart disease, the expert must also be a cardiologist with active practice experience.
Medical expects in medical malpractice cases perform several key functions. They:
- Review medical records. They scrutinize charts, test results, and doctors’ notes to pinpoint where errors occurred.
- Explain standards of care. They tell the jury what a reasonably competent doctor in that situation should have done. They should be able to explain this in plain, compelling language.
- Link errors to harm. They help prove that it was the provider’s negligence that caused your injury. This can help counter any claims made by the defendant that your injuries were caused by a pre-existing condition.
South Florida has unique challenges when it comes to medical malpractice claims. Many hospitals serve diverse populations with complex medical needs. A missed cancer diagnosis at Jackson Memorial or a birth injury at Plantation General may require testimony from both local and national experts to fully explain the errors.
In addition, there are many teaching hospitals in South Florida, so your treatment may be provided by an experienced doctor with decades of care or by a young resident. It’s important to find medical experts that can show why a doctor or other defendant still failed to meet the expected level of care.
At Flaxman Law Group, we’ve built relationships with respected physicians who not only know the science but also understand the realities of practicing medicine in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties.
Remember: the hospital’s side will also have experts. These are often well-paid, polished witnesses who testify frequently. Their job is to convince the jury that what happened to you was an unfortunate complication or honest mistake, not negligence. Choosing the right legal team is important because you want expert witnesses who can stand up to the legal teams and expert witnesses hired by powerful healthcare corporations.
Legal Support for Families in Wrongful Death Due to Malpractice
Few tragedies hurt more than losing a loved one because of preventable medical negligence. In South Florida, some of these cases are truly tragic. A couple may enter a hospital, excited about a new baby only to lose the baby (and sometimes the mother, too) due to medical negligence. A delayed cancer diagnosis can mean months or years of pain for a patient and can rob patients of their lives prematurely.
In these cases, a wrongful death claim may be possible.
Under Florida law, only the personal representative of the deceased’s estate can file a wrongful death malpractice lawsuit. This representative acts on behalf of the surviving family members (such as a spouse, children, or parents) who suffer emotional and financial losses.
In a wrongful death claim, families may be able to secure compensation for:
- Medical expenses. This can cover bills incurred before death, such as ICU care, cancer treatment, or emergency surgery.
- Funeral and burial costs. These can be a significant burden, often coming at a time when families are least prepared financially.
- Loss of support and services. If the deceased provided financial or household support, including alimony or childcare, surviving relatives can recover for those losses.
- Loss of companionship and mental anguish. Spouses and children may be compensated for the emotional void left behind.
Legal action can feel impossible in the middle of grief. But families often tell us that pursuing a wrongful death claim helps provide a sense of accountability. In some cases, it also prevents similar tragedies from happening to others in the community by holding defendants responsible.
It is also important to consider the future, especially if minor children are involved. Seeking compensation now can help pay for therapy and for future support for families as they work to get back on their feet after a loss.
Contact Us Today
Flaxman Law Group has offices in Miami, Homestead, and Hollywood to serve injured parties across South Florida.
We know how to pursue fair compensation for different medical negligence injuries. Most of all, we know how important compassion is during a difficult time like this and we go out of our way to provide support. If you suspect that a family fatality or your own injury was due to medical negligence, contact us for a free consultation.
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