Medical Malpractice Lawyers Serving Belle Glade

People in need of medical attention for different diseases or injuries have access to various clinics and hospitals in Belle Glade. Each of these service providers must adhere to a minimum standard of care, which requires them to take reasonable precautions to ensure their patients' safety.

Despite this legal obligation, many doctors and nurses make medical errors that endanger their patients. A medical malpractice claim in Belle Glade can help you get the finances you need to cover the costs and consequences of an injury caused by the negligence of a medical professional.

Because of the complexity of filing a medical malpractice claim, you should consult a medical malpractice lawyer serving Belle Glade. Call us at (561) 800-8000 for a free consultation with a seasoned attorney from Frankl Kominsky Injury Lawyers.

What Is Medical Malpractice?

You may be wondering if your experience with a healthcare practitioner constitutes medical malpractice if it resulted in an accident or injury. When a doctor, nurse, or other healthcare provider deviates from accepted industry standards and their patient suffers as a result, they may be held liable for medical malpractice. This can occur due to carelessness in the diagnosis, treatment, follow-up care, or administration of one's health.

Questions like "how do you know when medical malpractice has been committed" are difficult for many of our injured clients to answer. Patients in the hospital usually have some sort of illness that necessitates medical attention.

However, not all unfavorable results or consequences may be traced back to medical error. If you're unsure whether your injury resulted from medical negligence, a medical malpractice attorney can help you figure it out. A medical malpractice lawsuit could help you get compensation for your physical, mental, and monetary losses.

Definition of Medical Malpractice

Have you sustained injuries when visiting a doctor or other medical facility and believe it was caused by negligence? It would be best to learn what constitutes medical malpractice before considering legal action.

Malpractice is the tort committed when a professional fails to execute their responsibility adequately to a client.

What Is Medical Tort?

The term "tort" describes an act of carelessness that causes harm to another person. This means that many different types of healthcare providers can be at fault for medical malpractice because of their actions or inactions. It applies to any organization offering healthcare services.

Medical liability refers to the legal obligation that falls on a doctor or other medical professional when their negligence causes injury to a patient. Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider causes harm to a patient. The damages from this injury to the patient's quality of life are substantial.

Who Is Liable in Medical Malpractice Lawsuits?

Establishing that the defendant was acting in their capacity as a health care professional within the context of a doctor/patient relationship is crucial to proving liability in a medical malpractice action.

If a patient gets injured because of the negligence of a healthcare provider, the provider could face a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Liable medical practitioners and facilities may include:

  • Doctors
  • Nurses
  • Pharmacists
  • Dentists
  • Hospitals
  • Clinics
  • Physical therapists
  • Private practices

You should notify a reputable medical malpractice attorney immediately if you believe that your health problems were caused by or were made worse by the carelessness of a medical professional. They can help you get in touch with a doctor or other medical expert for diagnosis and care.

Proving Medical Negligence

 Medical negligence lawsuits are notoriously complex and contentious, so it takes a solid legal team to resolve them successfully.

A patient alleging medical negligence must prove four elements to win in court: the existence of a responsibility to the patient, the existence of a violation of that duty, the presence of an injury as a result of that breach, and a causal relationship between the deviation of care and the injury.

  • Duty of care: you must prove that the doctor owes you a duty of care. Each person or organization providing medical services, such as a hospital, is responsible for exercising reasonable care when treating patients. Doctors swear under the Hippocratic Oath to do no harm to their patients and do their utmost to treat them.
  • Breach of duty of care: For a claim to succeed, a plaintiff must show that the defendant's conduct constituted a breach of the duty of care owed to the plaintiff. It is a violation to provide inadequate or inappropriate treatment to a patient. Omissions or inactions are also acceptable explanations. Medical negligence occurs when the standard of care is breached. Anybody who causes harm to others by negligence must pay for those damages.
  • The patient sustained injuries: The patient must have been harmed or injured in some way.
  • The breach of duty of care caused injuries: To establish negligence, there must be direct causality between the breach of duty of care and the resulting injury. If your illness or injury was caused by the care you received or the lack of care you received, then you may be eligible for compensation through a medical malpractice case.

Contact a medical malpractice lawyer who knows what evidence you need to win your case.

Who Can Testify as an Expert Witness in a Malpractice Case?

The beginning and the end of medical malpractice cases rely heavily on the testimony of expert witnesses. Expert witness testimony depends upon the knowledge of a widely respected expert in the same subject as the defendant. The expert witness must share the same background as the defendant.

For example, an expert witness for an oncologist accused of medical misconduct should be an established and respected member of the oncology community. There must be no significant difference between the expert's education, training, and experience.

Expert witness testimony covers a wide range of topics due to the broad scope of medical misconduct. Administrators inside a healthcare system may sometimes be asked to comment on the system's procedures.

In some cases, the cause of death may be established by the testimony of a medical examiner or coroner. If the accused is an internist or general practitioner, internists or general practitioners could provide expert testimony.

Why You Should Choose Frankl Kominsky Injury Lawyers

Frankl Kominsky Injury Lawyers is a Florida-based law firm. Our lawyers have a reputation for being aggressive trial attorneys who will not hesitate to go to court to ensure our clients receive full compensation for their injuries.

We have access to an impressive roster of legal and medical experts and remain dedicated to treating each client individually. There are several advantages to hiring a personal injury lawyer locally, including proximity, familiarity with the area, and accessibility.

We know that having a local attorney by your side during the claim process can be extremely helpful and comforting. That's why it's so important to us to have locations across the state.

We provide free consultations, so give us a call now.

Causes of Medical Malpractice

The Florida Safety Net Hospital Alliance reports an alarming growth in the state's healthcare personnel shortfall. The agency states that the shortage of doctors is expected to worsen in the years ahead, reaching a peak of roughly 18,000 by 2035.

An increased shortage of physicians and other staff, such as nurses, can lead to medical errors. Overworked doctors and hospitals are more likely to make mistakes or overlook important details when they are under pressure to treat more patients than they have the resources to handle.

Examples of Medical Malpractice

The American Board of Professional Liability Lawyers (ABPLA) defines medical malpractice as a patient's injury caused by the negligent act or omission of a hospital, doctor, or other health care practitioner.

Malpractice lawsuits typically involve the following elements:

  1. A breach of the accepted level of medical care that patients in Belle Glade should reasonably expect from hospitals and clinics in the area.
  2. Negligence that led to an injury of a patient. Not all mistakes in the medical field amount to malpractice, and victims must suffer some kind of harm before filing a claim for compensation.
  3. The claimant incurred significant financial and emotional costs due to the injuries. There are higher costs associated with medical malpractice cases than with other types of personal injury claims because of the need for medical specialists and other forms of evidence and testimony not often seen in other kinds of claims.

Below are the most frequent causes of medical malpractice claims:

Diagnostic Errors

According to an analysis of medical records spanning 25 years by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers, most medical malpractice claims are caused by incorrect diagnoses. They also cause the most severe injuries to patients and the most considerable sums paid out to claimants in medical malpractice lawsuits.

Diagnostic errors may include:

  • A missed diagnosis occurs when a medical professional overlooks clues in a patient's medical history or diagnostic or laboratory testing that would point them toward the correct diagnosis.
  • Misdiagnosis happens when a doctor forms an opinion based on a patient's history and the results of diagnostic procedures, but that opinion turns out to be incorrect. If a doctor gives a patient an erroneous diagnosis, they might get the wrong therapy.
  • A delayed diagnosis occurs when a medical professional delays making a diagnosis and starting appropriate treatment, worsening the patient's condition.
Failure to Provide Treatment

By failing to diagnose and treat a patient's condition properly, healthcare providers can cause additional harm. Medical malpractice occurs when a doctor either fails to order necessary diagnostic or laboratory tests or when the results of those tests are improperly handled. It can also happen when a doctor makes an accurate diagnosis but fails to treat the patient effectively.

Prescription Errors

Prescription errors are common in hospitals. Medication errors can happen when a doctor prescribes the wrong drug for a patient, gives the wrong dose, or uses the wrong route of administration.

Surgical Errors

Many errors are possible during surgery, and they carry a significant threat of severe injuries to the patient.

The following types of surgical mistakes might lead to a medical malpractice lawsuit in Belle Glade:

  • Performing surgery on the wrong part of the body
  • Surgical trauma to healthy tissues and organs
  • Leaving behind pieces of surgical equipment, used towels, or sponges inside a patient's body cavity after an operation.
  • Providing little or excessive anesthesia to the patient
  • Failure to monitor the patient as they heal after surgery
Birth Injuries

Injuries to the mother or newborn during pregnancy, labor, delivery, or the provision of postpartum care may happen. But, you can file a birth injury claim if the care provider's negligence caused the injuries.

Medical negligence can lead to a variety of birth-related injuries, such as:

  • Failing to diagnose a medical condition that leads to pregnancy-related medical issues or injury to the mother or fetus
  • Not performing a cesarean section when it was medically necessary to have one
  • Inadequate monitoring of the mother and child during labor and delivery
  • Improper use of medical instruments
Failure to Get Medical History or Consent

Before providing treatment, doctors need to know the patient's medical history, which includes the patient's current symptoms, past medical conditions, medications the patient is allergic to, and the patient's family health history.

Providers also have an obligation to inform patients about the treatment's purpose, potential side effects, and other accessible options. Getting a patient's consent for a procedure after they've been given this info is called "informed consent."

The Medical Malpractice Claims Process in Florida

Most medical professionals carry medical malpractice insurance, a form of professional liability insurance, to protect themselves financially from lawsuits filed by patients who allege they suffered harm at the hands of their physician.

Medical providers in Florida must either carry medical malpractice liability insurance with limits of at least $100,000 per claim and $300,000 per year or demonstrate financial solvency equivalent to this amount in order to be issued or keep their license to practice.

If a patient sustains injuries because of a doctor's mistake, the patient can file a claim for economic and emotional damages against the doctor's insurance company or the doctor directly if the doctor does not have malpractice insurance.

Suppose the insurance or medical practitioner doesn't do their part to pay the claimant what they're owed or negotiate a fair settlement out of court. A medical malpractice lawsuit can be brought in this situation so that a judge or jury can review the evidence and decide whether or not liability and compensation should be awarded.

Plaintiffs usually have two years from the date of medical negligence to launch a lawsuit. If the injury or its cause is not discovered until later, the claim filing deadline may be extended to four years to accommodate the situation.

If the lawsuit is not filed within the state's statute of limitations, the plaintiff may lose the right to use the courts to pursue compensation for their claim. The medical provider's insurance company may also choose not to settle the claim if this occurs. If an insurance company refuses to pay a claim after the applicable deadline has passed, it can do so without facing legal repercussions.

Medical malpractice suits in Florida must begin with a notice of intent, which must be accompanied by an affidavit of merit from the claimant and their counsel. The affidavit necessitates that the claimant's lawyer consults with a similarly situated medical specialist to assess the merits of the claim.

Why You Should Get a Lawyer to Handle Your Claim

Obtaining the necessary affidavit of merit to establish that medical negligence happened and caused the patient's injuries is one of the many legal requirements a claimant must complete to secure a successful resolution of their claim.

During the claims procedure, it is necessary to gather a wide variety of evidence and paperwork. It might be difficult for claimants to meet these requirements without prior legal training or a legal team to aid them. If you need help with your medical malpractice lawsuit, contact the skilled lawyers at Frankl Kominsky Injury Lawyers.

Your lawyer will be able to help you with all areas of the claims procedure, including gathering evidence and fulfilling all legal requirements. Dealing with an insurance company that wants to pay out as little as possible on a claim or going to court against an insurance company or provider's legal team. A medical malpractice lawyer can also advise you on how to proceed with your case.

Our Team Can Help

Legal disputes involving malpractice suits in the medical field tend to be intricate. Frankl Kominsky Injury Lawyers law firm has attorneys with years of experience handling claims like yours and maintains a local presence to better cater to your needs.

Call us at (561) 800-8000 or use our online contact form to evaluate your case and legal options.

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