Despite what many people believe, medical malpractice is really not that different from a regular negligence situation, except that the negligence was committed by a healthcare provider that caused an injury to a patient.
One difference between regular negligence and medical malpractice is the aspect of the standard of care. In Florida, the state legislature has devised a statute which defines the standard of care.
Under Florida law, the standard of care applicable in most medical malpractice cases requires health care providers to exercise that level of care, skill and treatment which is recognized as acceptable and appropriate by reasonably prudent similar healthcare providers under similar circumstances.
In plain English, it means that doctors are legally required to act in a manner consistent with a reasonably prudent doctor (or nurse, dentist, etc.) would do under the circumstances.
In the event that a medical malpractice lawsuit makes it all the way to trial, the judge will usually provide the jury with the definition of standard of care to assist them in providing a verdict. The jury will be presented with evidence from both the plaintiff and defendant as to what took place.
Following the presentation of the evidence, the jury will eventually deliberate and try to decide what they feel that a reasonably prudent healthcare provider. faced with a similar set of factual circumstances, should have done in the situation.
Generally, the best way to determine whether or not a health care provider violated the applicable standard of care is to have your set of circumstances reviewed by an experienced medical malpractice attorney. A medical malpractice lawyer is trained to make a professional determination as to whether a victim of malpractice will be likely to obtain compensation for the injuries sustained due to the doctors breach of the standard of care.
Statutes listed on this site are offered for general information purposes. It’s important to keep in mind that the law is constantly changing. Therefore, statutes listed here may not be operable due to unmet conditions or may have expired. It’s also possible that they have been ruled inoperable by a court, or have otherwise become inoperable. Therefore, you should not rely solely on the information presented. If you have questions or believe you may have a legal issue, you should contact an attorney as soon as possible.
