St. Augustine Medical Malpractice Attorney
Medical Malpractice & Negligence in Florida
Anyone who receives medical attention from a licensed physician or another health care professional expects to receive high-quality medical care. However, in many cases, this does not occur. Many medical professionals—such as doctors, nurses, surgeons, and pharmacists—fail to provide the proper standard of care, causing injury and even death to their patients. Fortunately, recourse options are available to victims and their families.
If a medical professional has injured you, you may be able to file a medical malpractice lawsuit to recover the cost of your losses. Our St. Augustine medical malpractice attorneys are available to discuss the specifics of your case and inform you of your various legal options during a free, no-obligation consultation and case evaluation.
Contact us online or call our office today at (904) 849-2266to learn more.
Proving Liability in a Medical Malpractice Case
Not every medical procedure or treatment program goes according to plan. Just because an individual experiences a poor outcome after receiving medical care, this does not necessarily mean that they were the victim of medical malpractice or negligence.
To have grounds for a medical malpractice lawsuit, you must prove that a doctor, nurse, hospital, or another health care provider failed to uphold an acceptable standard of care. This standard of care is based on what another qualified medical professional would have or would not have done in the same or similar circumstances. Proving this often requires the expert testimony of competent medical professionals.
At Canan Law, we work with a team of experts to gather evidence establishing that a medical provider failed to provide an acceptable standard of care, resulting in injury or death.
We have helped clients bring claims against:
Examples of Medical Malpractice & Negligence
Medical malpractice and negligence can take many forms. Essentially, any time a medical professional fails to provide the proper standard of care to a patient, this constitutes malpractice.
Some of the most common examples of medical malpractice and negligence include:
- Diagnostic Errors: Misdiagnosis is one of the most common medical errors and one of the most frequent issues involved in medical malpractice claims. Diagnostic errors can also include delayed diagnosis, failure to diagnose, failure to order diagnostic tests, misinterpretation of test/lab results, and more. Diagnostic errors involving cancer, heart disease, cardiac arrest, and stroke are especially dangerous for patients.
- Birth Injuries: Birth injuries occur when an infant is injured due to medical malpractice or negligence during pregnancy, labor, delivery, or immediately after birth. Birth injuries like oxygen deprivation and misuse of forceps can lead to a range of injuries and complications, from cerebral palsy to brachial plexus damage to facial paralysis. Birth injuries can also result in maternal complications and death.
- Surgical Errors: Mistakes made just before, during, or immediately after surgery can have devastating and even deadly effects. Common surgical errors include left-behind objects, wrong-site or wrong-patient surgery, failure to monitor, and anesthesia errors, such as overdose or giving anesthesia to a patient who is allergic to the medication.
- Medication Errors: When doctors, pharmacists, and other medical providers make mistakes in prescribing, administering, or dispensing medications, the consequences can be deadly. Medication errors range widely and commonly include incorrect dosage (under- or overdose), administration of the wrong medication, and failure to properly warn patients of potential side effects. Medication errors are different from defective drugs, which can typically be traced back to pharmaceutical companies and drug manufacturers, not the doctors who prescribed them.
- Anesthesia Errors: Many medical procedures require the use of anesthesia. While most anesthesiologists are highly trained professionals, they can—and do—still make mistakes. These include administering too little or too much anesthesia, giving anesthesia to the wrong patient, failing to take a patient’s medical history (including adverse reactions to anesthesia) into account, intubation errors, and failure to properly monitor the patient.