Medical Malpractice

Most of the time, people get medical care from dedicated, hardworking, skilled and competent medical professionals. But not all doctors and nurses are as careful as they should be or as skilled as they need to be. They can also be tired or hurried and make a mistake that shouldn’t have happened. It’s up to the doctors and nurses to make sure they are always providing services with care and attention, and it’s up to the hospitals and clinics where they work to make sure there is sufficient staffing and scheduling so medical professionals are not overworked or forced to rush through a patient visit.

When doctors and nurses fail to perform up to the standards expected of their profession, or when hospitals fail to implement common-sense practices for patient safety, they can and should be liable for patient harm and injuries that occur because of their mistakes. The Tampa medical malpractice attorneys at Greco, Wozniak & Ruiz-Carus, P.A. fight every day to hold doctors and hospitals accountable for injuries caused by medical negligence. Medical mistakes are more common than you think and may actually be a leading cause of death in the U.S.

You might never know that an injury or death of a loved one was due to medical error; the doctor or hospital is not likely to tell you. You need an experienced medical malpractice lawyer on your side who can investigate the situation and bring in medical experts to review the records and figure out what happened. If an inexcusable medical error was to blame for your injuries, you have the right to seek compensation for the harm done to you, and we can help.

The Florida legislature has made it hard to bring and win a medical malpractice claim against a doctor or hospital. Even without the legal hurdles, medical malpractice claims are complex cases with highly technical medical issues. At Greco, Wozniak & Ruiz-Carus, P.A., our team of Tampa medical malpractice attorneys has the experience needed to navigate the complexities of the laws and work with qualified medical expert witnesses to build a strong case and present it to the jury in a clear, compelling and understandable way.

The burden falls on the victim in a medical malpractice case to prove there was a breach in the prevailing professional standard of care which caused the injury. Florida law defines the prevailing professional standard of care as “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.”

To prove this, injury victims are required to get an opinion from a medical expert based on a complete review of the medical records. A qualified expert must hold an active and valid license and be experienced in the relevant area of medicine. If the defendant is a general practitioner, then the expert must have devoted professional time in the last five years to active clinical practice or consulting in general practice or teaching or conducting clinical research. If the defendant is a specialist, the expert witness must specialize in the same specialty and have devoted professional time during the last three years to active clinical practice or consulting in the specialty or teaching or conducting clinical research in that particular field.

Before any lawsuit can be filed, the plaintiff is required to provide a pre-suit notice to the defendant doctor or hospital with certification from a medical professional that the patient’s claim is valid. The plaintiff’s attorney is also required to conduct a reasonable investigation and have good faith reasons to believe that negligence occurred.