Medical Malpractice Lawyer

Serving West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, Lake Worth and the Port St. Lucie area

When we put ourselves in the hands of medical personnel for healthcare, we are trusting them to apply their professional skills to the best of their ability. We expect a certain standard of care.

If you have found that your doctor or other healthcare professional has been negligent and caused you damages, you would be justified in seeking legal help. Be aware though, that medical malpractice cases can be long, expensive, and complicated. Not every health problem resulting from a medical mistake is drastic enough to warrant bringing a lawsuit.

Negligence

There are four things you must prove in a successful medical malpractice suit:

  • That your medical provider owed you a duty of care
  • That he or she failed to meet that duty
  • That this failure caused your injury
  • That the failure of duty and the injury harmed you

The applicable standard of care must be firmly established in any medical malpractice case. Expert testimony is required to establish this standard of care, and that testimony must also show that the healthcare professional failed to adhere to it.

Your medical malpractice case must also establish medical negligence causation, and this can be difficult. For example, there might be other factors and events that could have contributed to your injury.

Informed Consent

Before a medical procedure is performed for you, you must sign an “informed consent” form. The form states that you understand the procedure to be performed and you agree to having it done. Before you sign the form, the doctor or other provider must explain the procedure to you, its purpose, its risks, and what the alternatives are.

Failure to obtain informed consent is a kind of medical negligence and the medical provider who failed to obtain it may be liable for this failure.

More on informed consent

Limiting Legislation on Medical Malpractice

  1. Compensation cap – Florida places a cap on how much a person can be awarded in medical malpractice suits. This limits both the award amounts and the attorney fees. There are some special circumstances that might apply, so to see how this might affect your situation, please contact us for a free consultation.
  2. Statute of Limitations – In Florida, a medical malpractice suit must be brought within two years of the incident date (or of the date when that incident was discovered, or should have been discovered). Figuring out the actual date is a task best left to an attorney.
  3. Certificate of Merit – Florida requires that a plaintiff must have an expert study the relevant medical records to confirm that the healthcare professional did indeed violate the standard of care, and that this caused injury the plaintiff. The plaintiff’s lawyer then files this Certificate of Merit to confirm that this case does have merit.

Who can be Held Responsible?

Besides doctors, a wide spectrum of other healthcare providers can be potential defendants:

  • Dentists
  • Psychiatrists
  • Nurses
  • Nurse practitioners
  • Physician’s assistants
  • Alternative medicine practitioners
  • Technicians

The institutions which employ healthcare providers can also be held liable: hospitals, urgent care centers, etc. This potentially gives a plaintiff a financially responsible defendant that can provide compensation.

In conclusion – it must be remembered that an unsuccessful medical result is not necessarily justification for a medical malpractice lawsuit. Nor is an unanticipated side effect. Each individual responds to medications and surgeries differently, so that nobody can accurately predict your exact results.

Schedule your free consultation

Please contact us today if you feel you may have a valid medical malpractice claim. Delay is not in your best interest – not just because the statute of limitations is running, but also because a great deal of information must be collected and analyzed by experts. This takes time, so the sooner we can start on it for you, the better your prospects will be. We serve the residents of the whole Southern Florida area and accept select cases throughout Florida.

Free Consultation • No Recovery/No Attorney's Fee • Handicapped Accessible

Florida medical malpractice lawyer Craig Goldenfarb represents clients throughout South Florida, including the cities of Palm Springs, Stuart, and Fort Pierce, and residents of Palm Beach County, Martin County, and St. Lucie County. Our office in West Palm Beach, Florida, is located a quarter mile west of I-95 on Palm Beach Lakes Blvd., behind Chick-Fil-A in the Legacy Bank Building.

Practice Areas

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OFFICE LOCATION: 2090 Palm Beach Lakes Blvd. Suite 402
West Palm Beach, FL 33409
1-800-GOLD-LAW
Call Toll Free 1-800-GOLD-LAW (465-3529)
Malpractice Lawyer Port St. Lucie

The reader’s understanding of the information on this website about personal injury law does not constitute a formal legal relationship with the Law Offices of Craig Goldenfarb, P.A.  Please do not assume this content to be formal legal advice.  If you would like to know if you have a valid personal injury case, please contact a Florida medical malpractice lawyer at the Law Offices of Craig Goldenfarb, P.A. today for a complimentary consultation regarding personal injury law in Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, Lake Worth, Port St. Lucie and Palm Beach County, Florida.
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