When A Doctor’s Appointment Goes Wrong
When we go to the doctor’s office, we put our full trust in our physician. Whether it is a visit to your general practitioner for a physical, a scheduled surgery, or you are rushed to the emergency room, you expect whoever helps you to take the best care of you possible. To be fair, this is the case the majority of the time. Sometimes, however, something happens and a mistake is made. Doctors and nurses are humans, and they may slip up and do something wrong. Hopefully, these things are easily fixed. But if they are not, that’s where we can help.
In the News
Medical malpractice often seems like something that is made up to add drama to the movies, and television, but unfortunately it happens in real life, too. The stories range from extreme – an instrument left in a body after surgery – to more common – prescribing an antibiotic for a few days too long. All mistakes count, though, even the behind-the-scenes errors. Just ask Fernando Mendez-Villamil. Mendez-Villamil was Florida’s top prescriber of drugs used to treat antipsychotic symptoms. He is currently in federal custody after being charged for felonies, such as conspiracy to commit health care fraud, conspiracy to defraud the government by making false statements with respect to immigration matters, and conspiracy to defraud the government with respect to claims. Essentially, he had been prescribing a disproportionate amount of drugs to children, and he was caught by a civilian who tracked the prescriptions. While this is a more extreme case, it just goes to show that medical malpractice can happen anywhere.
Medical Malpractice In Florida
Medical malpractice law can be confusing, but the basics are clear. If you are injured while under the care of a doctor, you can file a suit against them for damages to receive adequate compensation. However, in Florida, there is an additional step. Florida law requires that before a medical malpractice suit can be filed against a doctor, nurse, or hospital, the plaintiff must get a sworn affidavit from another doctor. This makes the process difficult, as it is often hard to get, and this is an expensive step. Unfortunately, this step might get even harder soon. A new law has been passed that changed the requirements for who qualifies as an expert witness to sign these affidavits. Specifically, the law will require that the doctors specialize in the exact same area of medicine in order to qualify as experts. This significantly limits the pool, especially for those who suffered injuries in less common areas.
Reach Out to Us for Help
While these things are terrifying to think about, they do happen. Nobody wants to have something left in them after a surgery or be misdiagnosed by a doctor who didn’t get enough sleep. If you think that something like this has happened to you, or you’ve heard a similar story from someone you know, you should seek legal help. Contact us at the office of Alan Goldfarb, P.A. for some guidance. Our lawyers will help you decide whether your case should be filed and how to proceed from there.
