Fort Lauderdale Medical Malpractice Lawyer
When people become injured or sick, they entrust their safety, well-being, and essentially their lives to doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals. The majority of the time, patients’ rights are upheld and they are treated with the dignity and respect they deserve while receiving the medical treatment they need. Sadly, this is not always the case. There are times when the very medical professionals who have a job to take care of patients make mistakes and cause further harm.
If you or a loved one has experienced additional harm due to medical negligence, you may be able to file a claim to recover damages for your losses. Of all the areas of personal injury law, though, medical malpractice is one of the most complicated. Below, our Fort Lauderdale medical malpractice lawyer explains in greater detail.
What is Medical Malpractice?
Unfortunately, medical professionals can act negligently, make mistakes, and cause injuries to their patients. Doctors and other healthcare professionals are held to a very high standard of care because they are largely in control of the safety and well-being of their patients. Even so, treatment options are not always effective and physicians often have to use a trial and error approach before finding a remedy that works. Due to this, not every case of a patient being harmed is a result of medical malpractice.
Determining whether medical malpractice occurred, it is important to consider whether another medical professional in a similar field of medicine would have acted in the same manner and provided the same level of care. If another medical professional would have acted in a different way to protect the patient from further harm, it is possible that medical malpractice occurred. In these instances, the negligent medical professional can be held liable for paying damages.
Damages Available in Medical Malpractice Claims
After filing a claim involving medical malpractice, you can obtain damages for your medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, and more. Unlike in other personal injury claims, however, state law does place caps on certain types of damages.
Economic damages include losses that have an actual dollar value, such as your medical expenses. In Florida, there is no cap on these types of damages. Non-economic damages, on the other hand, do not have a concrete dollar value. These include losses such as pain and suffering, permanent disfigurement, and others. State law does place a cap, or limit, on these types of damages.
State law caps non-economic damages at $500,000 for practitioners and $750,000 for non-practitioners. These caps are increased to $1 million if medical malpractice results in a patient being placed into a permanent vegetative state. Additionally, in the case of catastrophic injuries and it is clear that a patient would suffer unfairly due to the cap on damages, the limit is increased to $1 million for practitioners and $1.5 million for non-practitioners.
Our Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Fort Lauderdale Can Advise On Your Claim
Medical malpractice claims are complicated and it is never easy to obtain the damages you deserve. At Spencer Morgan Law, our Fort Lauderdale med mal lawyer can guide you through the process to ensure you receive the full and fair settlement you deserve. Call us today at 305-423-3800 or chat with us online to schedule a consultation and to learn more about how we can help.