As patients, we look to medical professionals to care for us and prioritize our well-being. When they fail to uphold this standard of care, you have the right to hold them accountable for their negligent actions. Freidin Brown, P.A. will be your advocate. Hialeah Hospital is no stranger to medical malpractice cases, and we are no strangers to fighting back against these types of entities.
You deserve only the best treatment, and negligence and careless behavior could mean the difference between life and death. If you sustained an injury while receiving treatment at Hialeah Hospital in Hialeah, FL, our hospital negligence lawyers can help you navigate the state’s complex medical malpractice laws and build a robust case proving your right to financial damages.
Our firm has over 45 years of personal injury experience with cases in the Miami-Dade County area. Let us put our skills and knowledge to work for you so you can focus on getting better. Contact us today or call us today for a free consultation.
What Is Medical Malpractice?
Medical malpractice occurs when a health care provider or facility does not treat patients according to the accepted standards of their field.
Sadly, serious medical errors are fairly common. Your Health Care May Kill You: Medical Errors reports that around a quarter million people die each year in the United States due to medical mistakes, making them the nation’s third-leading cause of death.
If you or a loved one suffered harm because of negligent medical care at Hialeah Hospital, our Hialeah medical malpractice lawyers can help you prove the facility or one of its care providers is liable. We assist with cases involving:
- Medication errors, including administering the wrong medication, administering medication to the wrong patient, dosage errors, and failure to identify dangerous drug interactions
- Surgical errors, including anesthesia negligence, wrong-site surgeries, unnecessary surgeries, botched procedures, and foreign objects left in the body
- Diagnostic errors, including failure to diagnose, wrong diagnosis, and failure to follow up with test results. Hialeah Hospital previously dealt with a malpractice case where a failure to diagnose and treat a patient’s pneumonia resulted in her tragic death.
- Negligent patient care, including failure to take a patient’s medical history, failure to monitor a patient, premature discharge, and lack of follow-up care
- Infections and contagious illnesses, including failure to sterilize instruments and the environment, unclean facilities, and failure to institute disease-prevention measures
- Birth injury errors, such as those that occur during delivery or near delivery (e.g., brachial plexus injuries, facial paralysis, fractures that occur during labor or birth, spinal cord injuries, perinatal asphyxia, cerebral palsy, etc.)
Recoverable Damages You Could Receive in a Medical Malpractice Injury Case in Hialeah
If you sustained an injury (or your injury or illness worsened) because of hospital negligence in Hialeah, FL, you have suffered enough. You and your family should not have to endure additional financial stress and hardship because of costs caused by medical malpractice.
Our Hialeah Hospital medical malpractice lawyers can protect your economic stability by seeking monetary awards from those responsible for your injuries and damages. Compensation for medical malpractice may include the following:
- Medical bills. We will fight to ensure you do not pay for the negligent treatment that caused your injury. We can also seek compensation for medical care needed because of malpractice. Damages may include the cost of emergency services, medical procedures, prescription drugs, hospital stays, physical therapy and rehabilitation, medical devices and equipment, and long-term nursing.
- Lost wages, earnings, and employment benefits. If you cannot work because of your injury, illness, and recovery, we can seek compensation for your lost income. If your condition prevents you from returning to work or performing your previous job, we can pursue awards for your lost earning potential.
- Household services. If you cannot perform household tasks, such as cooking and cleaning, we can seek the cost of hiring help. We can also review your case to identify other out-of-pocket expenses, including medical travel costs and medically necessary home or vehicle modifications.
- Pain and suffering. Also called non-economic damages, these awards compensate for intangible losses, including physical pain, scarring, disfigurement, emotional distress, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment, loss of consortium, and diminished quality of life. While some states cap non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases, Florida does not.
- Punitive damages. Though very rare, we can seek punitive damages if Hialeah Hospital or one of its employees acted with gross negligence or intentionally harmed you. Punitive damages go to the victim, but their intent is to punish the defendant for bad behavior and deter future wrongdoing.
- Wrongful death. If hospital negligence caused your loved one’s death, our wrongful death attorneys serving Hialeah can seek financial compensation for their fatal injury. Awards may include medical costs, funeral and burial costs, loss of your loved one’s current and future financial support, services, and guidance, and survivors’ emotional and mental suffering.
Our Attorneys Have Won Significant Compensation for Medical Negligence Victims
Medical malpractice cases can be extremely complicated. First, Florida has specific malpractice laws that can be hard to navigate and apply for those without specific legal expertise. Second, malpractice cases often involve complex scientific and medical evidence. Finally, the hospital or health care provider you go up against (or their insurer) will have a team of attorneys with significant resources to defend them.
For these reasons and more, you do not want to select just any lawyer or law firm to represent you in your Hialeah Hospital negligence case. A lawyer with experience in these cases knows how to avoid common medical malpractice pitfalls and get results. You also need a Hialeah medical malpractice team that will not back down, even when up against a large, wealthy, and powerful medical facility.
Our Medical Negligence Case Results
Freidin Brown, P.A. has won numerous malpractice cases and secured over 20 verdicts exceeding $1 million for victims of medical negligence. Our case results include the following:
- $38 million for twin boys rendered blind due to a physician’s failure to screen and diagnose a condition at birth
- $12.7 million for a child who suffered a brain injury caused by negligent care
- $9.75 million for the family of a mother who died due to childbirth complications
- $5.5 million against a hospital and its staff for negligent emergency room care
- $1.595 million against a hospital and several of its doctors for failing to treat a spinal condition, resulting in paralysis
Victim of Hospital Malpractice? Speak to an Expert Lawyer Today!
Our Medical Malpractice Lawyers Can Establish How Hialeah Hospital Acted Negligently in Your Injury Case
If you received negligent medical care from Hialeah Hospital, you may not be alone. As of the Spring of 2023, the facility has only a “C” rating from hospitalsafetygrade.org. Hialeah Hospital became part of the Steward Health Care System in 2021 in a deal with Tenet Healthcare. Even with this change is ownership, the site states that Hialeah Hospital has a lower-than-average safety score in the following areas:
- Blood infections
- Blood leakage
- Harmful events
- Dangerous bedsores
- Patient falls and injuries
- Dangerous blood clots
- Communication about medicines
- Communication about discharge
- Communication with doctors
- Communication with nurses
- Responsiveness of hospital staff
In addition, only 52 percent of patients who rate Hialeah Hospital on healthgrades.com would “definitely” recommend the facility to someone else. This rating is 18 percentage points below the national average.
Our lawyers want to help you get justice if you receive negligent medical treatment at Hialeah Hospital that harmed you. We have the experience and proven track record needed to build a strong medical malpractice case for you and your family.
We Will Prove Malpractice Occurred
To establish that a hospital or its employees acted negligently, our attorneys will prove the following four elements of medical malpractice:
- Professional duty. We will show the hospital and its staff had a professional responsibility to treat you. Or, in other words, a doctor/patient relationship existed. \
- Breach of duty. We will show that the hospital breached its duty of care by failing to treat you according to acceptable medical standards.
- Injury. We will prove that you suffered an injury or illness due to the hospital’s breach of duty.
- Damages. We will prove that your injury or illness resulted in financial damages and pain and suffering.
We Will Collect Evidence to Build Your Case
Not every unfavorable medical outcome is due to an error. For example, if your loved one died during a heart surgery because their heart and arteries were too damaged, this is not malpractice. However, suppose your loved one’s heart surgery was unsuccessful because the surgeon failed to monitor them and administer a blood transfusion when necessary. In that case, you may have grounds for a lawsuit based on medical malpractice.
Our attorneys can collect evidence, analyze it, and use it to prove the harm you suffered was due to hospital negligence or a medical mistake. Proof in a medical malpractice case may include the following:
- Your medical records
- Doctor’s treatment notes
- MRIs, X-rays, and CT scans
- Laboratory test results
- Photographs of conditions inside the hospital
- Interviews with your doctors, nurses, and other health care providers
- Eyewitness accounts
- Previous complaints lodged against Hialeah Hospital or its staff
- Official incident reports
- Scientific and medical research
- Testimony from medical experts
We Will Advocate for Your Full Recovery
Unlike “billboard” law firms that take on thousands of clients, Freidin Brown, P.A.’s small-firm advantage allows our selectively chosen attorneys to give each case the personal attention it deserves. Because our lawyers take on a limited caseload, they truly know you and the details of your legal issue. Nothing is automated, and you are never just a number.
In addition, we have a reputation for taking aggressive action to maximize our clients’ recoveries. Our team includes two Board Certified Civil Trial Attorneys, and we have won over 300 jury trials.
When you work with our personal injury attorneys, we will advocate for your interests every step of the way. Our Hialeah Hospital medical malpractice lawyers will:
- Handle phones calls, emails, texts, and meetings with insurance agents, opposing counsel, and other involved parties
- Serve as a buffer between you and insurance agents or lawyers who might pressure you to settle for less than you deserve
- Protect you from accidentally saying or doing something that could hurt your case
- Review your settlement offers and reject lowball payments
- Defend you from bad faith insurance tactics
- Negotiate for the maximum compensation possible
- Prepare a lawsuit and take your case to civil court if necessary
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How Long Do You Have to Sue a Hospital in Florida?
You should begin your medical malpractice case immediately. Acting quickly will allow our lawyers to collect evidence before it gets lost or deteriorates and to speak with witnesses before their memories fade.
Additionally, getting started right away gives our personal injury lawyers as much time as possible to construct a case and work through insurance negotiations before Florida’s statute of limitations for medical malpractice expires.
According to Florida Statutes § 95.11, you generally have two years to file your lawsuit, depending on your circumstances. If you do not act within this time, the court will likely throw out your case, even if you have solid proof of hospital negligence. As such, it’s important to contact a medical negligence lawyer right away to determine if you have a case. Calculating the statute of limitations is a fact-intensive inquiry that will depend on a variety of factors. Therefore, you should not delay in seeking legal assistance.
You Must File an Affidavit of Merit
Florida has additional hurdles through which medical malpractice victims must jump before they can sue a hospital or health care provider for negligence. Before we take your case to court, we have to notify the defendant of your intent to sue. The notice of intent must include an affidavit of merit from a medical expert stating that they believe you have a valid medical malpractice claim.
Once you serve the notice, a complicated 90-day presuit process begins. If the defendant informs you before the 90-day period is up that they do not want to settle, you have 60 days or the remainder of the statute of limitations (whichever is longer) to sue.
Our Hialeah Hospital medical malpractice lawyers can enlist a team of experts to complete affidavits of merit and ensure you meet all legal deadlines, thereby protecting your right to take legal action.
Contact Freidin Brown, P.A. About Your Hialeah Hospital Medical Malpractice Case
For more than 45 years, Freidin Brown, P.A. has fought for injury victims’ rights. If hospital negligence causes devastating consequences for you or a loved one, we have the skills and decades of experience to represent you in a Hialeah Hospital medical malpractice case. We have helped many clients successfully take on physicians and health care facilities in cases involving medical issues resulting from negligent health care, and we can do the same for you.
Contact us online or call us today to speak with a member of our team today. We offer risk-free, no-cost consultations that allow clients to review their legal options. Also, our medical malpractice attorneys can represent you on a contingency basis, meaning you owe us nothing unless and until we obtain compensation for you. Connect now with a lawyer near you.