If you or a loved one suffered a serious injury while under medical care, you know the emotional toll it takes. A medical malpractice claim may be necessary to secure compensation. However, these cases are not simply about a bad outcome; they hinge on a crucial legal concept: the “standard of care.”
Understanding the standard is essential because, under Florida law, you must secure a verified medical expert opinion certifying the breach and causation and include it with the Notice of Intent to Initiate Litigation sent to the prospective defendant before beginning the mandatory 90-day pre-suit period.
Defining the standard of care
This complex legal concept provides the foundation for every medical malpractice case. It represents the level of skill and care a reasonably prudent health care provider would use under similar circumstances. Florida law defines the prevailing professional standard as the care, skill, and treatment level that other reasonably careful health care providers consider appropriate and acceptable based on the relevant circumstances.
The standard applies to all medical professionals. Doctors, surgeons, nurses and other licensed staff must all follow it. Proving the accepted standard and showing a departure from it requires clear, professional medical testimony in court.
While this is often interpreted as a national standard, the law does require consideration of the custom and practice of emergency medical coverage in the same or similar localities when the claim involves emergency medical services.
Furthermore, for claims against a hospital or health care facility based on administrative or nonclinical issues, the standard is the reasonable care a similarly situated facility would use in the community.
When a breach leads to malpractice
A medical professional commits malpractice when their actions fall below the accepted standard, and that negligence causes you harm. The error must be negligent, meaning a lapse in proper practice, not just a rare complication.
Malpractice claims often involve the following errors:
- Diagnostic: Failing to order necessary tests or correctly interpret results, leading to a delayed diagnosis of a serious condition like cancer.
- Surgical: Operating on the wrong body part or leaving surgical instruments inside a patient after a procedure.
- Medication: Prescribing the wrong drug or an incorrect dose, which leads to a serious injury or adverse reaction.
In each scenario, a failure to meet the accepted standard of care created the injury. A skilled medical malpractice attorney works to demonstrate how a doctor’s negligent action, or inaction, directly caused you harm.
Skilled legal guidance is essential
Medical malpractice cases are fundamentally about negligence, proving a care provider failed to meet the objective standard of care. These claims involve intricate medical and legal complexities.
Successfully handling documentation, working with medical witnesses, and meeting procedural requirements in a Florida medical malpractice claim underscores the crucial importance of skilled legal representation.