Cosmetic surgery procedures are becoming more and more common – for the right amount of money, you can have just about anything lifted, tucked, or chiseled. One of the increasingly popular procedures is a Brazilian butt lift. For one Miami area cosmetic surgery patient, the results were not what she anticipated; she alleges her surgeon botched the surgery by injecting too much fat into her buttocks, then medicated her incorrectly and failed to provide the proper care afterwards. Officials have received similar complaints from several other patients who alleged that they required hospitalization for complications from their cosmetic surgeries; one patient alleges that the surgeon actually performed a completely different procedure on her than she was supposed to receive, ending up with a tummy tuck instead of a butt lift.

Duty Owed

With a cosmetic surgery, as with any medical service, a patient expects to receive competent care and service. While mistakes happen and accidents occur, a medical provider is held to certain standards and, when they fail to meet these standards, a patient may have a medical malpractice case against the doctor or healthcare provider. Many times we may not even realize that medical malpractice has occurred, but in reality, it occurs with alarming frequency. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, only heart disease and cancer rank higher than medical negligence as a leading cause of death in this country. It is important to note that not every mistake a medical professional makes automatically gives rise to a medical malpractice claim – in order for medical malpractice to have occurred, certain factors must be present. First, the treatment received must have had to be lower than the accepted standard of care, and secondly, the sub-standard service must have caused harm to the patient. According to Section 766.203 of the Florida Code, anyone seeking to initiate a medical malpractice claim must ensure that there are reasonable grounds to believe that these two factors do, in fact, exist.

Experts Needed

Medical malpractice cases can be difficult to prove due to the subjectivity of the issues involved. For this reason, expert witnesses will likely be an essential component in any successful medical malpractice lawsuit. Experts can provide the information necessary to establish the standard of care that should have been met by showing what a reasonably prudent healthcare provider would have done and then demonstrate that the medical provider failed to meet that standard.

Need Help With A Medical Malpractice Case?

When you or a loved one has been the victim of medical malpractice, you are entitled to be compensated for the losses you have suffered. The law provides for victims to receive damages for medical malpractice and you could be entitled to money for medical bills, lost earnings, lost earning capacity, and pain and suffering. Our Miami medical malpractice attorneys have the experience handling medical malpractice cases and the network of experts necessary for a successful case to help you achieve the results you deserve. Contact us today at the office of Alan Goldfarb, P.A.  to schedule your consultation and start on your path to recovery without delay.

Resources:

http://www.nbcmiami.com/investigations/New-Brazilian-Butt-Lift-Complaint-Made-Against-Doctor-395339911.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/learnvest/2013/05/16/10-things-you-want-to-know-about-medical-malpractice/#4cd5673e2323

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.

It is not always possible to avoid injury during a delivery. However, birth injuries caused by medical negligence may result from:

• Improper Forceps Use: A mother may have difficulty delivering her child if the child is not properly positioned. If this happens a doctor may use forceps to help position the child and help the delivery. Using forceps can help reduce the risk of oxygen deprivation and distress. Proper use of forceps can prevent birth injuries; however, improper use can damage a child’s neck, chest or head.

• Improper Vacuum Use: A doctor may use a vacuum when a baby has difficulty escaping the birth canal. Vacuums can be used to suction a baby’s shoulder or skull to help guide the baby out the birth canal. Doctors or other medical personnel are responsible for ensuring the vacuum is properly placed on the baby. When not properly placed, the vacuum can cause severe injuries to the mother and baby.

• Failing to Order a Caesarian: A doctor may order an emergency Cesarean, or C-section, if a baby shows signs of distress. If the doctor and delivery team fail to recognize distress and delay ordering a C-section, they may be responsible for any injuries resulting from that delay.

• Hypoxia: A baby may suffer from hypoxia when its brain does not receive enough oxygen during childbirth. An infection, tangled umbilical cord, or damaged placenta may cause hypoxia. If hypoxia is not properly identified and addressed, a child may suffer mental and physical disabilities. If a doctor fails to notice signs of hypoxia and take action to avoid injury, the doctor and the delivery team may be responsible for any resulting damage.

The following complications during birth might also indicate medical malpractice was a factor that caused your child’s birth injury:

• Improper use of pitocin;
• Failure to perform specialized test during pregnancy;
• Failure to identify and treat infections, placental abruption, umbilical cord entrapment or premature membrane rupture;
• Failure to refer high-risk patients to specialist;
• Failure to identify changes in the fetus’ condition; and
• Failure to order pre-natal testing.

Contact an Attorney

Birth injuries can be caused by a number of factors and it is not always possible to avoid injury. However, if you believe your baby was injured at birth due to a doctor’s or nurse’s carelessness, then you should contact the Miami birth injury attorneys at the office of Alan Goldfarb, P.A. We can discuss the circumstances of your child’s birth and guide you through the medical malpractice claim process. Please contact us today at 866-936-9761 to discuss how we can help you.

This latest ruling comes after Florida’s Supreme Court ruled last year that the pain and suffering damages cap in wrongful death cases violates the state’s constitution. In that case, Estate of McCall v. United States, a woman died after bleeding to death as she gave birth to her child. The woman’s family brought a wrongful death suit based on negligence, and after they won their case, the court was forced to reduce the jury’s verdict to $500,000, as mandated by Florida law. But Florida’s Supreme Court ruled that such a law had no rational basis in trying to solve the problem of high medical malpractice insurance costs.

Fourth District Court of Appeals Follows Estate of McCall

At the time Estate of McCall v. United states was decided, critics argued that the case would lead to Florida’s additional caps being overturned. And that is exactly what happened in North Broward Hospital District v. Kalitan.

In this newest case to overturn Florida’s cap law, a woman went into surgery for a routine carpal tunnel procedure. She was treated by a student learning how to become a nurse anesthetist, and during intubation her esophagus was ruptured. After she woke up she complained of chest pain, but the doctor sent her home without a thorough examination. Soon after she came home she was rushed to the emergency room by her friend where doctors there had to perform life-saving surgery. After all of this grief, she sued her original surgical team for medical malpractice. After a trial where both cases were presented, a jury awarded her a verdict of over $4,700,000; $4 million of that award was for pain and suffering, both in the past and future.

It was in this context of facts that the Fourth District Court of Appeals felt they were bound to follow the Supreme Court’s ruling in Estate of McCall v. U.S. The caps on how much a litigant can receive for pain and suffering were passed in the early 2000s when many states were passing such laws. The reasons given for passing these caps were many, including that medical malpractice insurance costs were so high that doctors would choose not to practice in Florida. It was also argued that medical malpractice costs were contributing to skyrocketing healthcare costs. As a result the Florida legislature passed law limiting how much a person could collect for personal injury cases in medical malpractice.

At the time the laws were passed, critics insisted that they would not reduce insurance costs, and would not reduce hospital costs. And now Florida courts are overturning those laws because they are ruling that passage of the laws has no rational basis in either goal. This is welcome news to victims of malpractice who deserve to be justly compensated for the negligence of others.

A Law Firm for All Personal Injury Cases

If you or someone you love was injured in any way in Miami due to someone else’s negligence, contact us. At Alan Goldfarb, P.A., we represent victims of personal injury. We will review your case and give you your legal options.

What is Medical Malpractice?

Simply put, medical malpractice happens when a doctor or other healthcare professional fails to provide adequate care to a patient and the patient suffers as a result. Every state has its own standard of what adequate care means, and Florida’s is a fairly standard one. In Florida, adequate care means that a doctor or other healthcare professional provides:

• The same level of care;
• With the same skill;
• As a reasonably prudent and similar health care provider;
• Under the same or similar circumstances.

This means that if a healthcare provider does something during treatment that falls below this standard, and the patient is hurt as a result, that is considered medical malpractice. Malpractice can happen at all stages of care, from when a patient checks into the hospital and has his or her vital signs checked, to when the patient is discharged.

Understanding the standard for medical malpractice is one thing; proving it is another. One of the primary ways to prove that malpractice has occurred is by having fellow doctors testify in court. As expert witnesses, doctors can explain to a jury or judge what the standard of care should have been. Of course as expert witnesses these doctors are paid, but their pay cannot be based on a contingency of the case. And no person is qualified to give expert testimony unless that person has a valid and current license to practice and they have conducted a full review of all the medical information in the case.

Expert witnesses are particularly important to the plaintiff in the case (the one hurt) because the plaintiff has the the burden of proof. The burden of proof in any medical malpractice case is the greater weight of the evidence.

When is Medical Malpractice Presumed?

In some cases expert witnesses are not as necessary because malpractice is presumed. While it may seem counter intuitive, malpractice is not presumed just because a patient is injured while under the care of a healthcare provider. But, under Florida law, malpractice is presumed when during a surgery something is left behind in the patient. Some of the things that will be left inside a patient during and after a surgery include sponges, clamps, forceps, needles, and other items used during a surgery. As you can imagine, leaving something behind inside a patient after a surgery can be devastating to the health of a patient.

Conclusion

This was meant to act as an overview to help Miami residents better understand medical malpractice in Florida. The truth is that medical malpractice claims are much more complicated than what has been explained here. The attorneys at Alan Goldfarb P.A. are prepared to handle even the most complex of medical malpractice cases. Reach out to the office today.

Ex Parte Communications in Medical Malpractice Cases

In medical malpractice cases, however, the Florida law allows physicians’ attorneys to access the patient at issue’s medical records ex parte. This also allows attorneys access to previous treating doctors’ medical records. These disclosures take place without first being seen by the patient or the patient’s attorney, making this a controversial act to some.

The judge that originally heard this case in the lower court thought that these rules could be a violation of HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. HIPAA ensures that a patient’s privacy is protected and requires explicit authorization before files can be duplicated, distributed, or viewed by others. The Florida appellate court ultimately determined that this practice of ex parte communication is permissible in these limited circumstances. This is largely due to the fact that patients bringing medical malpractice claims are required by law to sign a waiver before they can pursue such medical negligence claims. The patient, essentially, is consenting to the release of their information to the doctor’s attorney in exchange for the possibility of receiving damages due to the medical negligence of the physician at issue.

Moreover, as Judge Frank Hull noted, the individual patients retain their choice “whether to file suit, and therefore whether to sign the authorization form” and allow their medical history to be discovered by opposing parties. It is, what some would consider, a “Hobson’s choice,” given the fact that you do not really have a choice but to sign the authorization form if you wish to bring suit at all. Regardless of one’s personal opinion, the court has spoken on theirs, and patients bringing medical malpractice claims will still need to sign an authorization form in order to bring a claim.

Florida Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice is an area of the law in which patients that were injured, or the families of patients that were killed, due to a doctor’s negligence are given some peace to rectify the harm caused. Florida law allows for nearly unqualified access to relevant patient records, both a benefit and a burden from any angle you look at it. The patient may be burdened as potentially private, sensitive information is accessible, but benefited to sustain their claim of medical malpractice against their provider with documentation of incidents through the records. Regardless, a physician’s office is somewhere people go to feel better, not to get hurt. Our experienced medical malpractice attorneys at Alan Goldfarb, P.A. have the knowledge and expertise necessary to navigate a medical malpractice claim in Florida. Even if you simply have questions about your rights as a patient, please do not hesitate to contact our offices for a complimentary consultation today.

Medical Malpractice Defined

Medical malpractice is not merely a “mistake.” In order to be held liable for medical malpractice, a medical professional must be negligent, reckless, or intentionally do something to endanger a patient. The laws of informed consent suggest that a patient has a right to understand the possible risks of undergoing an operation, taking a certain medication, or receiving treatment for certain ailments. Still, a number of things can still go wrong that can lead to medical malpractice claims even when all of the possible risks appear to be disclosed to a patient.

In a medical malpractice case, the issue may come down to whether the patient would have undergone the treatment or care had they known about the possibility of the risk. If it can be proven that the patient was ill-informed about the risks, or that the physician failed to take the appropriate care and follow protocol when caring for the patient, there may be a basis for a medical malpractice claim. Many malpractice claims arise from loss of bodily functions, paralysis, anesthesia issues, or permanent disability or disfigurement. Chapter 766 of the Florida Civil Statutes dictates these types of claims. It defines important terms, allows for collection of medical records in the instance of allegations against a physician or a hospital, and explains how settlements can be amicably reached. This Code governs cases where people entrust their lives with others who fail to fulfill their duty to act with the proper amount of care. Tragically, these cases often result in permanent loss of enjoyment of life, loss of income, significant hospital expenses, and other things that can be both emotionally and financially disruptive to one’s life.

Florida Medical Malpractice Attorneys

When you contact Alan Goldfarb, P.A., you can rest assured that we will professionally, enthusiastically, and zealously represent you and your loved ones’ interests in coming to a resolution to rectify the harm that has been caused by a medical professional. Some causes of action pertaining to use of medical devices or prescriptions may also fall under the purview of medical malpractice. Regardless of the circumstances, if you or someone you know was injured or killed due to the negligence of a physician, you may be entitled to compensation under the law. Our experienced, Miami-based medical malpractice lawyers will work with you to obtain the best possible outcome. Do not hesitate to contact us today.