Medical Negligence

Negligence Lawsuit Over Florida Psychiatric Patient’s Death Must Comply With Pre-Suit Notice Requirements Enumerated in Medical Malpractice Reform Act

Published on: September 4, 2015 | by Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada, P.A.

In Shands Teaching Hospital and Clinics, Inc. v. Estate of Lawson, a woman with a history of mental illness was admitted to a hospital’s locked psychiatric unit in 2013. Unfortunately, the woman somehow got access to a facility worker’s keys and escaped the building. After that, the woman ran onto a nearby highway and was struck by a vehicle. Sadly, the woman died as a result of her injuries.

Following the woman’s death, her estate filed an ordinary negligence lawsuit against the hospital in a Florida court. The hospital filed a motion to dismiss the case and asserted that the estate’s lawsuit was actually a medical negligence complaint. According to the medical facility, the estate’s case was subject to dismissal because it failed to comply with the pre-suit notice requirements enumerated in Chapter 766 of the Florida Statutes. The trial court denied the hospital’s motion, and the facility sought a writ of certiorari to quash the lower court’s order from Florida’s First District Court of Appeal.

Equitable Subrogation Question Certified to Florida Supreme Court in Personal Injury Case

Published on: August 3, 2015 | by Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada, P.A.

In Allstate Insurance Company v. Theodotou, a young man suffered head trauma and other injuries when he was struck by a motorist while riding his scooter in Florida. Following the collision, the boy was treated at a local hospital. Unfortunately, his injuries were apparently made worse as a result of medical negligence.

Not long after the accident, the young man’s guardian sued the motorist who struck him as well as the owner of the vehicle. At trial, the defendants were precluded from presenting evidence that the young man’s condition was made significantly worse due to negligent medical care in accordance with prior Florida precedent. Ultimately, the defendants were ordered to pay the young man more than $11 million. After that, the driver’s auto insurer paid the boy’s guardian the full accident policy limits of $1.1 million.

Appellate Court Affirms Legal Fees Award for Plaintiffs in Florida Medical Malpractice Case

Published on: January 19, 2015 | by Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada, P.A.

In Duong v. Ziadie, a woman filed a medical malpractice lawsuit on behalf of her incapacitated son against his doctor, the practice where the doctor was employed, and other defendants. According to the woman’s complaint, the physician’s negligent care caused her son to become permanently paralyzed. In her lawsuit, the mother sought damages related to her son’s medical bills, pain and suffering, and loss of earning capacity. She also asked the court to award his minor children financial compensation for their loss of parental services and other damages.

Prior to trial, the mother submitted a formal proposal for the settlement of each person’s claim to the allegedly negligent physician. The woman also stated she would seek sanctions against the doctor if he refused the offer and a jury issued an award against him for at least 25 percent more than her $1 million proposal. The man’s doctor refused to settle the case, and the lawsuit proceeded to trial. After reviewing the evidence, jurors issued an award of approximately $10 million in favor of the plaintiffs. In addition, the jury found that the physician was 75 percent responsible for the incapacitated man’s harm. The jurors also determined that another doctor was 25 percent at fault.

Appellate Court Rules Negligence Case Against Hospital is Not Subject to Florida Medical Malpractice Act

Published on: December 24, 2014 | by Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada, P.A.

Florida’s Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal has refused to grant a hospital’s petition for a writ of certiorari. In Holmes Regional Medical Center, Inc. v. Dumigan, a man was apparently injured by a drug that was used on him during a surgical procedure even though it was previously recalled. As a result of the hospital’s alleged failure to dispose of the recalled drug, the man and his wife filed a negligence and products liability action against the medical facility where his surgery was performed. After a trial court refused to grant the hospital’s motion to dismiss the case, the hospital asked Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeal to review the lower court’s order.

According to the hospital’s petition for a writ of certiorari, the plaintiffs’ lawsuit was inappropriately characterized as a products liability and negligence action. The medical facility claimed that the statutory presuit notice requirements enumerated in the Florida Medical Malpractice Act (“FMMA”) instead applied to the case. Since the plaintiffs failed to comply with the FMMA’s notice requirements, the hospital argued that the trial court should have dismissed the case.

Tampa Federal Court Remands Medical Device Products Liability Case Back to Sarasota County

Published on: October 22, 2014 | by Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada, P.A.

The Middle District of Florida in Tampa has remanded a products liability case back to state court. In Wier v. DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc., a man was allegedly hurt by a medical device that was surgically implanted in his hip. As a result, he filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer of the device and the distributor in the Twelfth Judicial Circuit in Sarasota County. In the man’s case, he asserted the two companies were negligent, failed to warn him, committed breach of an implied warranty, and should be held strictly liable for his harm. He also claimed that the medical device manufacturer was guilty of breach of express warranty.

Although the device manufacturer hailed from a different state, the defendant distributor was a Florida citizen for purposes of diversity jurisdiction. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a), a lawsuit that was filed in state court may be removed to federal court if the parties are citizens of different states, and the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000. In general, any doubts regarding whether federal jurisdiction is proper should be decided in favor of a lawsuit proceeding in state court. Despite this, the manufacturer successfully removed the case to the Middle District of Florida based on diversity of citizenship.

Florida Supreme Court Overturns Decision in Medical Malpractice Case: Saunders v. Dickens

Published on: September 9, 2014 | by Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada, P.A.

In Saunders v. Dickens, a Florida man went to see a physician over pain, numbness, cramps, and lack of coordination while standing. The neurologist diagnosed the man with peripheral neuropathy caused by diabetes, although the doctor did not perform tests to confirm his diagnosis. He also sent the man to a local hospital for treatment. An MRI revealed the man suffered from a narrowed spinal canal. After that, the physician apparently consulted with another doctor and performed a neurological examination on the man. Following the examination, the doctor recommended the man undergo surgery for lumbar decompression.

Unfortunately, the man’s condition worsened following surgery. As a result, his doctor ordered additional testing, which revealed other areas of compression in the man’s neck and back. Prior to a second surgery, the man developed deep venous thrombosis.

Eventually, the Florida man obtained a second opinion from a neurosurgeon. The neurosurgeon recommended the man undergo at least two additional surgeries. Before this could happen, however, the man developed degenerative quadriplegia and passed away. Prior to the man’s death, he and his wife filed a failure to diagnose lawsuit against the physician, neurosurgeon, and hospital that treated him. The man settled his claims against each defendant except the doctor with whom he initially sought treatment. According to the physician, the man’s injury resulted from his neurosurgeon’s negligence.

Is There a Non-delegable Duty to Supervise Florida Hospital Doctors?

Published on: May 27, 2014 | by Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada, P.A.

In a 2012 case, a plaintiff appealed a final judgment that entered a defense verdict for a hospital in her wrongful death case. The case arose when her husband went in for back surgery and died the next day from cardiac arrhythmia. After that, the plaintiff sued the hospital for its own negligence and the negligence of its employees.

The plaintiff named an ER physician as a negligent agent for whose actions the hospital was liable. The plaintiff claimed the hospital was vicariously liable under the respondeat superior doctrine. This doctrine permits a company to be held responsible for its employees that act in the course and scope of employment on the employer’s behalf. The plaintiff also alleged the hospital was responsible for the physician’s conduct because there it had a nondelegable duty to supervise him.

The plaintiff’s expert witness testified in deposition that the doctor had violated is duty by delaying in his response to an emergency situation. The hospital filed a motion for partial summary judgment. It argued that the ER doctor was an independent contractor and therefore it wasn’t liable for him. The trial court granted the partial summary judgment, ruling the doctor did not serve as an actual agent of the hospital. The trial court concluded there was no non-delegable duty to supervise. Continue Reading ›

Causation in Medical Negligence Cases in Florida

Published on: May 20, 2014 | by Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada, P.A.

In a 2012 case, a medical center appealed after it was found liable for medical and nursing negligence that had caused a patient’s death. It argued that the plaintiff failed to show its nursing staff was negligent or that if the negligence had not happened, the woman more likely than not would have survived.

The case arose when a 45-year-old woman experienced head pain and went into a state similar to a coma. Her husband called an ambulance. The paramedics measured her vital signs, which were close to normal and stabilized her and took her to the defendant medical center. They diagnosed her with a grand mal seizure.

On the way, she became conscious enough to ask paramedics to take off the mask. Before arriving at the hospital she had another seizure, which brought to her another state similar to a coma. The paramedics recorded her vital signs as near normal. She was brought to the emergency room that evening. Continue Reading ›