Gainesville, Ocala, Lake City & Inverness, Florida Accident Attorney and Alachua County DUI Lawyer Blogs

Local Med Mal Lawyer Explains Hip Replacement Complications and Lawsuits

Hip Replacement Complications and Lawsuits Continue to Increase Sharply. Local Med Mal Lawyer Explains

"Caps on Damages Awards Helpful? Ocala Medical Malpractice Lawyer Gives Opinion

Are med mal caps helpful? Experienced Ocala medical malpractice lawyer says, perhaps, but at whose expense?

Med Mal Caps - Who pays the price? Gainesville Medical Malpractice Lawyer Explains the Expense

Who pays the price of capping med mal awards? Experienced Gainesville medical malpractice lawyer says, the victims of med mal do!

Medical Mistakes - Is Voluntary Reporting Working in Florida?

Experts estimate that in the United States as many as 98,000 people die from preventable medical errors each year. This number is just an estimate as there are no definitive figures. 

Why do we not know precisely how many people die from medical mistakes in this country? Good question, as there are laws on the books which require the reporting of medical mistakes to the state agencies that regulate medicine. However, most medical facilities do not comply with the reporting requirement and there is no punishment for failing to report.

In Florida, the Florida Administrative Code, 59A-12.012, requires that within 15 days of an accident causing severe injury or death the medical facility is required to report the incident to the state.

Some large hospitals in Miami have not made such a report in many years. Does that mean that there are no mistakes made at this large medical facility? No.

A voluntary reporting system is dangerous and makes a mockery of our health care system. The medical community claims that voluntary reporting encourages reporting. This has not happened.

As a medical malpractice attorney, I work hard for our clients on medical malpractice cases to do all we can to hold medical practioners accountable for their errors.  

Choosing Your Doctor....Tips-Part One

Doctors come in all levels of skills, quality of training, and commitment to their job. To exemplify this point let me tell you a story. When I was working for the Agency for Health Care Administration, I heard the chairman of the Florida Board of Medicine say to a group of people:

"10% of the doctors are good and actually help their patients. 10% of the doctors are not good and are dangerous. The remaining 80% of the doctors will neither help nor hurt you.

How can you be sure your doctor is a good doctor who is in the 10% who actually help their patients?

Here is Tip #1:  You can go to the Florida Department of Health Website under the licensed professionals section.  Here you will find lots of information about your doctor. You can learn where he or she went to medical school, where they completed residency training, whether he or she is board certified and whether they have had disciplinary action taken against his or her medical license.

After this go to your circuit court clerk's website. Do a case search for your doctor. Has he been sued? If so get a copy of the complaint in the civil case. This will tell you much about what it is alleged that the doctor did wrong. What happened to the case? Was it settled? Was the case tried before a jury? What was the verdict?  

This is just a beginning.  More to come about the best ways to go about selecting your doctor.

Who Is Behind Tort Reform? Part 3 on Tort Reform

The civil justice system was designed to provide protection to individuals for violations of civil law. A lot of money is spent each year by organizations that promote a view of the civil justice system that is not accurate (tort reform).  The money is spent to convince the public that the court system is filled with frivolous lawsuits and that jury's awards are out of line with the damages presented in the case. The full facts of the case are never told.

The positive sides of the civil justice system are usually ignored. The stories about the manufacture of a defective product that caused injuries being taken off the market, or the fact that cars are safer today, drugs are safer today, traffic lights, railroad crossings, are all safer than they were 100 lawsuits ago. Trial lawyers are responsible for this increase in consumer safety. These positive stories are not often told because it is not the injured individual who has the resources to publish their side of the story. It is the large well funded corporations that are promoting a view of the civil justice system that is distorted and not helpful to the individual and their rights.

Each year 80,000-90,000 people die in the United States because of medical malpractice. This figure is published by the American Medical Association. Yet, instead of addressing the thousands killed each year the medical community wants to limit your rights to full justice.  As a medical malpractice lawyer in Ocala, I have seen way too often the unfairness of this and the heartbreaking consequences.

Tort Reform do you know what it is about?  Part 1 on Tort Reform

WHY GIVE UP YOUR HEALTH CARE RIGHTS in Ocala or anywhere in Florida? Part 2 on Tort Reform

Part 4

WHY GIVE UP YOUR HEALTH CARE RIGHTS in Ocala or anywhere in Florida? Part 2 on Tort Reform

In the middle ages what rights did a person have in the event that the king or a member of the moneyed class accidentally injured or killed a person? Did the injured person have a court system he could rely upon to seek justice?   No. The matter was usually taken into the hands of the parties themselves. Brute force ruled the day. Is this a good way for a civilized society to address their grievances?

Tort reform was designed to limit the rights of individuals from being compensated for the injuries they suffered as a result of the carelessness of their doctor (and in other wrong doings). It was promoted as a way for the people to have lower medical costs and lower health insurance costs. It was said that doctors were leaving the state in large numbers and tort reform would help insure a doctor was available when you needed one. Tort reform was passed by the Florida legislature and since then have you noticed the price of the healthcare going down in Ocala or elsewhere in Florida? Have your insurance payments gone down? Did you know that the number of doctors licensed to practice medicine in Florida has gone up every year for the last 10 years? Your health care rights have been restricted and now anyone who is a victim of medical malpractice will have far fewer rights then they had before.

As an experienced medical malpractice attorney I would be interested in knowing: What are your opinions on this issue?  Does it seem right or fair to you?

This is part 2 of a series on Tort Reform.  For part 1 see, Tort Reform, do you know what it is about?

Who Is Behind Tort Reform? Part 3 on Tort Reform

Part 4

Free Health Fairs - BEWARE! they may not be free nor good for you. Part 1

As a medical malpractice lawyer in Ocala and Gainesville and the surrounding areas, I must speak out about this topic.

Set up in shopping malls and advertised in newspapers around the state are doctors who claim to offer a "free health fair" for anyone over the age of 65 and who has a Medicare card.

The doctors will claim to waive any part of the costs that Medicare doesn't pay. Often the doctor has set up in the mall some kind of equipment such as an EKG machine or other non invasive imaging study or possibly a laboratory technician is on site to draw blood to run a series of laboratory tests.

Often doctors will run up medical bills of several thousand dollars that the doctor sends to Medicare.  The doctor will be sure to let you know that there is no doctor-patient relationship created by this "free health fair." Persons often believe that this "free health fair" is a substitute for a traditional doctor-patient relationship and an annual physical.

Persons who participate in this "free health fair" are often unknowingly participating in health care fraud. Doctors need to have reasons for ordering tests. The simple fact that someone has a Medicare card is no justification to order any tests. 

 Please see Part 2 of my experience with this.

Free Health Fairs Could Cost You, Beware - Part 2

In addition to the health care fraud that these Medicare "free health fairs" are that I discussed in Part 1, we have also seen where persons who thought that they were being given "free" medical testing are later sent to collections for failing to pay the balance that Medicare did not pay.

Somewhere between the doctors regular patients and those he tested at the "free health fair" there was a mix up between who was suppose to be billed for the doctors regular patients and who was not to be billed as they were tested at the "free health fair."

When this happens we commonly see patients file a complaint with the state licensing agency against the doctor for financial exploitation and a violation of the standard of care in the practice of medicine for performing unnecessary tests.

So remember the next time you see a "free health fair" advertised, remember it's not always free and it may not even be good for your health.

ATTENTION ALL PATIENTS: CALL AND GET YOUR RESULTS!

You don't have to be a doctor, to recognize obvious findings on an x-ray report. Many findings on a lung x-ray, or mammogram, or many other types of radiology imaging studies can be understood by a non-medical person. A written report is made by the radiologist. You can and should read this report.

As an Ocala based medical malpractice attorney/lawyer I see much too often where the radiologist reads a chest x-ray, for example, and says that there is a mass that needs to be followed-up with other studies or tests. Yet, this important information is not made known to the patient because the doctor's staff accidently files away the report and the pateint is not notified.

Then, months or years later when the patient develops symptoms of a disease (usually cancer) and goes to the doctor, the patient learns about the finding that could have been treated when it was first diagnosed, now due to the delay it is just too late to save their life.

You can help prevent medical malpractice.  Here are some tips on how:
      *Be actively engaged in your care.
      *Don't expect that the results of medical tests will be given to you if there is a positive finding.
      *Call your doctor and find out for yourself!
      *Call on behalf of a family member if they are unable to call for themselves!
      *Get a copy of the doctor's written report.
Don't be a victim of medical malpractice.

 

Wrong site surgery; tips on how to prevent it happening to you in Ocala.

Are you scheduled for surgery? Is your surgeon paying attention? You surely hope so, but why take a chance?

Lots of people remember when Rolando Sanchez, M.D., cut off the wrong leg of Willie King in a Tampa hospital. The case made national news. The case highlighted a problem that has been occurring in hospitals for many years and that is the alarming frequency with which medical malpractice in the form of wrong site surgery occurs.

Since that terrible incident hospitals developed new protocols for surgical procedures. The operating room staff will check and double check the patient's chart and ask the patient, "What procedure are you here for?" Patients are often alarmed when they hear this. The patient thinks...well shouldn't you know what procedure I am here for? But, it is part of the new procedures hospitals are using. Also, operating room staff will mark the site of the surgery. If you are having surgery here are some tips from an experienced medical malpractice attorney to prevent a wrong site surgery in Ocala and around Florida:

**Be sure you pay attention to what is going on around you.
**Be sure the hospital staff has marked the correct site for surgery.
**Bring a friend or family member with you and have them pay attention to what the hospital staff is doing as you, the patient, may be under the influence of anesthetic and you cannot know what is going on around you.
**The best way to prevent medical malpractice is to be an alert patient.

 If you think you have been the subject of medical malpractice call an experienced medical malpractice attorney/lawyer ASAP, remember there are Statutes of Limitations.

Patients are facing a Medical Malpractice crisis! Part 2

Doctors and their insurance companies have waged a successful campaign over the past 20 years to convince us that all the doctors will flee the state if we don't give them special protection.  The state legislature gave them what they wanted and the people of Florida have been left unprotected.  

In addition to the ways in which Floridians are being left our in the cold, as I discussed in Part 1 of this series, a patient will also have to sign forms at their  doctor's office agreeing not to sue the doctor in court but to submit to a system of arbitration heavily weighed in favor of the doctor including limits on their recovery.  The doctor will not treat them if they do not sign the forms waiving most of their legal rights.

Ironically only 2 or 3% of all acts of medical malpractice are ever reported. Estimates by the Journal of the American Medical Association are that over 225,000 U.S. citizens are killed each year by doctors and hospitals. Some are calling medical mapractice the silent killer in this country.

Hospitals have started to question the morality of failing to notify the patient or the surviving for family when medical malpractice occurs.  Some hospitals have started a proactive program to notify the victims regardless of the legal consequences. 

However few doctors have adopted this moral approach that echoes the ancient medical maxim that every doctor learns in medical school; "the first thing is, do no wrong"!

 

Patients are facing a Medical Malpractice crisis! Part 1

Florida has created a protected class of citizens that includes doctors and their staff.  An example:

If a Florida doctor receives a radiology report indicating that a patient needs follow up testing for a suspicious mass on a lung x-ray they have a duty to advise and warn their patient immediately.  But if they or their staff fails to notify them; the state of Florida will protect them.

Even if the failure to notify a young working wife and mother of three earning a six figure income results in her premature death, Florida law limits their recovery to $500,000. To make matters worse the doctor and their practice need only carry $250,000 in medical malpractice insurance. And to create an added layer of protection many doctors hire the smartest tax lawyers money can buy to create "asset protection plans".   These plans mean that even if they get a multi million dollars verdict against them, their victim/s will have great difficulty getting any more than $250,000!

After attorney fees and the high costs of fighting the doctors they may wind up with less than half of $250,000, even with the best medical malpractice lawyer fighting for them. 

A husband and three kids lose a wife, mother and financial provider by medical malpractice, but the State of Florida thinks that it is OK for them be so grossly under compensated.

How can this possibly happen in a free country that allows everyone else, in particular large corporations, to sue with no caps or limits on recovery?