Medical | Health Care

The firm has a dedicated Medical | Health Care Practice to counsel physicians and other health care professionals at the pre-suit and litigation stages. The teams handle claims involving negligent labor and delivery, pediatric brain injury, stroke and t-PA administration, cardiology, misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis, surgical errors, medication errors including drug interactions, allergies and anesthesia. The practice also handles allegations of ER errors involving failure to diagnose, delays in treatment, failures to transfer (EMTALA), and defective medical devices (i.e., faulty implants, pacemakers, or surgical tools) that caused harm. The attorneys handle a wide range of high-exposure claims, catastrophic injuries and wrongful death cases.

Health care professional liability defense extends to hospitals, surgical centers, doctors (M.D. and D.O.), chiropractors, nurses, massage therapists, physical therapists and assisted living facilities and nursing homes. Even though technically not covered by the medical malpractice statute, we also defend actions against psychologists and therapists. We also represent labs, pharmacies, manufacturers and distributors of health related equipment and supplies.

The practice is supported by a firm-wide trial team of 38 attorneys, some with over 100 Jury verdicts. Six of the partners are Florida Bar Board Certified Civil Trial Experts. The firm had 20 favorable/defense verdicts in 2024. In addition to our attorneys, RN nurse paralegals on the team are invaluable and play a crucial role in our collective success.

The team is assisted by our Reptile and Deposition Strategies Practice Group that is a disruptor of litigation strategy and unique to our firm. The Reptile practice goal is to establish a recommended best practices industry-wide approach to counteracting the impact of reptile attacks and waging an effective counter-offensive in the pursuit of a fair and impartial trial. Our Reptile Practice Group is dedicated to assisting our attorneys and clients with three key components: Early Identification of Reptile Risk; Deposition Awareness and Reptile Strategies; Reverse Reptile Trial Strategies. Our goal in Deposition Prep is to assure that clients and their employees are questioned ethically in deposition and are not unfairly questioned to skew answers and mislead the jury. We help our clients understand and recognize when plaintiff lawyers are improperly setting up reptile attacks.

Reptile issues aren’t just limited to deposition. In our firm, each trial is analyzed by a reverse reptile strategy team to assure juries get a fair and impartial presentation of the evidence. We analyze opposing counsel’s jury selection and closing tactics and develop our own strategies to mute or neutralize improper reptile attacks. We develop a counter-offensive to engage and educate the jury on our client’s business story and efforts to maintain safe and effective policies and training. In the end, we give our trial teams the best resources to accomplish.

Plaintiff Counsel are perfecting the reptile attack, and it is resulting in deposition concessions and sound bites that emotionally charge jurors to make verdict decisions based on anger and emotions. The best way to prevent a hijack of your witness is to outline the tactic so they are not caught off guard when the reptile strategies are employed. The witness’ confidence is crucial in answering the reptile questions and plaintiff counsel will intimidate even the most experienced professionals.

Florida is one of the 28 states that requires a certificate of merit before a medical malpractice lawsuit can proceed. This requirement is part of Florida’s pre-suit investigation process under Florida Statutes § 766.203. Failing to comply with the pre-suit requirements lead to a possible dismissal or other sanction for failure to meet these pre-litigation requirements.

Florida is one of the 33 states that require minimum qualifications for expert witnesses in medical malpractice cases, including proof that the retained expert is a “similar health care provider” with experience in the same or related field as the insured defendant.

In Florida, the statute of limitations for filing a medical malpractice lawsuit is generally: Two (2) years from the date the injury was discovered, or should have been discovered with reasonable diligence. Four (4) years from the date the malpractice actually occurred, regardless of when it was discovered. There are some exceptions involving fraud or concealment, minors, and wrongful death cases. Florida also has a statute of repose, which means that no claim can be filed more than four (4) years after the malpractice occurred, except in cases of fraud, concealment, or misrepresentation.

Florida courts may allow periodic payments of future damages instead of lump sum, particularly for large awards. In addition, in 2023, Florida enacted legislation introducing Caps on damages - $500K for non-economics for most injuries alleged against individual practitioners; if vegetative state or wrongful death, up to $1M in non-economics; hospitals and facilities have $750k for PI and $1.5M for vegetative state or wrongful death.

Finally, Florida has limitations on wrongful death recovery that prevents adult children and parents of adult children from recovering “non-pecuniary,” i.e., pain and suffering, damages for wrongful death caused by medical malpractice. Adults over the age of 25 cannot claim non-pecuniary” wrongful death damages for the death of a parent due to medical malpractice unless they can prove that they were financially dependent upon the parent.

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