Were you or a loved one a victim of medical negligence in Delray Beach, FL? If your healthcare provider committed malpractice, you may have the right to recover financial compensation. Cases involving medical errors tend to be complicated. It’s critical to have an experienced Delray Beach medical malpractice lawyer protecting your interests.
Hollander Law Firm Accident Injury Lawyers is an award-winning law firm with over 28 years of experience in personal injury law. We’ve already recovered tens of millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts on behalf of injured clients like you.
Your doctor or hospital may owe you compensation for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Contact our law offices serving Delray Beach, Florida, to schedule your free consultation today at (561) 347-7770.
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How Can Hollander Law Firm Accident Injury Lawyers Help With a Medical Malpractice Claim in Delray Beach?
Medical malpractice laws in Florida are complex. They tend to favor doctors and hospitals. However, the burden of proving malpractice is always placed on the victim.
An experienced Delray Beach personal injury lawyer can help you navigate the challenges you will face.
At Hollander Law Firm Accident Injury Lawyers, our founding attorney has been recognized as a Top 25 Medical Malpractice Lawyer by the Medical Malpractice Trial Lawyers Association.
Our team has handled cases like yours before, and we’re ready to fight for you by:
- Conducting a detailed investigation
- Gathering evidence to establish liability
- Hiring experts and specialists to prove various aspects of your case
- Working with you to understand your unique losses and challenges
- Rejecting lowball settlement offers
- Negotiating with the insurance companies for a full settlement
- Taking your case to trial if necessary
With a respected Delray Beach personal injury attorney by your side, your family is much more likely to recover a settlement that accounts for all of your losses. Money can’t restore your health–but it can make it easier to cover treatment costs and meet specialized needs.
Learn more about your legal options by contacting our law firm today.
What Is Medical Malpractice in Florida?
Doctors are held to high standards for a reason. We lean on them to protect our health when we need help the most. You deserve to expect that you’re receiving the level of care your doctor has been trained to provide.
However, not every bad outcome amounts to malpractice. Some health conditions cannot be corrected even with the highest-quality medical care. What’s relevant is whether your care lived up to the expected standard of care.
Healthcare providers commit malpractice when they fail to satisfy the applicable medical standards of care. Malpractice can occur at any stage of the treatment process.
Our lawyer often handles malpractice cases involving:
- Misdiagnosis
- Failure to diagnose a disease
- Emergency room errors
- Surgical errors
- Anesthesia errors
- Medication errors
- Radiology errors
- Nursing negligence
- Hospital negligence
- Hospital-acquired infections
- Malpractice in specialized practices, including cardiology, neurology, and urology
Under Florida medical malpractice laws, all healthcare professionals must exercise the “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.”
If you suspect you were a victim of malpractice, consult a lawyer to learn more about your legal options today.
Statistics on Medical Malpractice
Malpractice is a problem in Florida and across the U.S. One often-cited study by Johns Hopkins suggests that medical negligence is the third-leading cause of death in the U.S.
While that study is often challenged, there’s no doubt that medical errors are a serious problem in Florida. One recent report concluded that, when adjusted for cost-of-living factors, Florida insurance companies and defendants paid out about $13.4 billion in medical malpractice payouts.
What Is My Delray Beach Medical Malpractice Case Worth?
A number of different factors will impact your case value, including:
- Whether your condition is permanent or life-threatening
- How the medical error will change your life
- The cost of your medical treatment
- The cost and nature of the medical care necessary to correct the mistake, if possible
- Damage to your quality of life
- Whether the medical error impacts your earnings and the value of any lost wages
- How the injury impacts your family and your own emotional health
- The nature of the doctor’s mistake
Sometimes doctors admit that they were wrong. In other cases, they’ll go to great lengths to deny their mistake. Either way, don’t expect the insurance company to automatically hand over a fair settlement. Even after you prove that you deserve compensation, you’ll have to prove your case value.
A lawyer can evaluate your case, bring in experts, and even compare your situation to prior cases. Our law firm has the resources to help you stand up to the hospitals and insurance companies, so give us a call for a free case evaluation today.
What Types of Damages Are Available to Victims of Medical Malpractice in Delray Beach?
Your settlement or verdict should include compensation for your economic damages and non-economic damages.
The precise nature of your damages will depend on your unique losses, and may include:
- Current medical expenses
- Medical costs made necessary due to the mistake
- Lost wages during your recovery
- Reduced earning potential
- Physical therapy
- Rehabilitation
- In-home assistance
- Out-of-pocket expenses
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Anxiety
- Severe depression
- PTSD
- Diminished quality of life
- Loss of mobility, disfigurement, scarring, and other permanent physical impairments
- Loss of consortium in wrongful death cases
In cases involving extreme misconduct and disregard for human life, you may also seek punitive damages as punishment.
How Much Does It Cost To Hire a Delray Beach Medical Malpractice Attorney?
At Hollander Law Firm Accident Injury Lawyers, we don’t think cost should be a factor when choosing your lawyer. That’s why our firm works on a contingency fee basis. Hiring us won’t cost you a cent upfront.
If–and only if–we recover compensation in your case, we take a percentage. We’ll agree on that percentage before you hire us. If we don’t obtain a settlement or jury verdict for you, you owe us nothing in attorney’s fees.
What Are the Most Common Causes of Medical Errors in Florida?
Medical errors happen for many different reasons. However, not all medical errors amount to malpractice.
Some of the most common types of medical error that may amount to malpractice include:
- Ordering the wrong tests
- Misinterpreting diagnostic tests
- Failure to recognize a patient’s symptoms
- Failure to account for adverse drug interactions
- Undertreatment or overtreatment
- Communication and charting failures
- Operating on the wrong patient or body part
- Failure to obtain a patient’s informed consent
- Failure to take a full patient history
- Unsanitary conditions
- Inexperienced or unqualified medical professionals
- Lab mix-ups
- Drug or alcohol use
Many medical mistakes happen because of understaffing and overworked medical professionals. That doesn’t let the negligent parties off the hook. If you believe you were a victim of medical negligence, call our lawyers in Delray Beach today. We’d be happy to arrange a free case review to discuss your options.
What Do I Have To Prove To Win a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit in Florida?
Medical malpractice is a type of negligence. Negligence claims require proof of four separate elements: duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages.
In cases involving medical negligence, you must prove:
- You were a patient, establishing the duty of care element
- The medical standard of care that applied in your case
- The doctor breached their duty by failing to satisfy the standard of care
- That breach directly caused you to suffer harm
- The damages that resulted
The “standard of care” element is often contested in medical malpractice cases. To prove your case, our team will bring in expert witnesses. Those experts can testify about how the care you received deviated from the care that a reasonable doctor would have provided.
Victims of Medical Negligence Often Struggle With Severe Long-Term Consequences
Our lawyers are here to help you fight to hold your negligent doctors accountable.
Some examples of the types of long-term damage caused by medical negligence include:
- More invasive medical treatments
- Worsened underlying conditions
- Infections
- Brain damage
- Dependency on pain medications
- Chronic pain
- Loss of mobility
- Cognitive disabilities
- Reduced life expectancy
- Blood clots
- Stroke
- Paralysis
- Catastrophic injuries, including amputations and vision loss
- Wrongful death of a loved one
Serious medical errors often change the lives of victims and their families forever. Many struggle with mental health disorders even if their injuries are not life-threatening.
How Long Do I Have To File a Lawsuit After a Medical Error in Florida?
Under Florida law, the statute of limitations in medical malpractice cases is two years.
The clock starts running on the earlier of:
- The date the error occurred
- The date you discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, the mistake
In any case, a four-year statute of repose also applies. You must file your lawsuit within four years of the date the medical error happened, or you lose your right to compensation entirely.
There are exceptions to these time limits, but only in specific cases. Contact us as soon as possible to confirm the statute of limitations for your particular circumstances.
Call an Experienced Delray Beach Medical Malpractice Lawyer for a Free Consultation
A doctor’s careless mistake can change your life forever. If you or a family member were a victim of medical negligence, contact Hollander Law Firm Accident Injury Lawyers for a free consultation. An experienced Delray Beach medical malpractice lawyer can help you fight for justice.
