Good, competent doctors can be sued on occasion. Also, doctors who have never been sued can make serious mistakes. However, knowing how often your doctor has been sued for medical malpractice can be essential in protecting your and your family’s health. Several sources provide doctors’ backgrounds, experience, history of disciplinary actions, and lawsuits. Combining the information from across these sources gives you the most complete picture.
If you suspect you or a loved one has been the victim of medical malpractice, checking your doctor’s background can provide more information. A history of disciplinary actions or lawsuits raises red flags above the concerns you may already have, signaling even more strongly that you should contact an experienced medical malpractice attorney to determine if you are eligible to pursue compensation for your damages.
How To Check if a Doctor Has a History of Medical Malpractice in Florida
Several resources can tell you whether complaints, disciplinary actions, or medical malpractice lawsuits have been brought against a doctor. The most thorough approach is to combine the information from the resources below. For example, you can look at the Florida Department of Health’s list of liability claims exceeding $100,000 in the last decade and the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation’s lists of all claims on record.
Florida Board of Medicine and Florida Department of Health
The Florida Department of Health regulates doctors through the Florida Board of Medicine. The department has compiled the Medical Quality Assurance Search Services database, providing information such as license status, disciplinary actions, and doctors with malpractice suits.
You can find licensing issues by clicking the Discipline & Administrative Actions button on the search page. You can find out if your doctor has been named in any malpractice suits by clicking on the Practitioner Profile button, entering the doctor’s name, and then clicking Proceedings & Actions. Many doctors have similar names, so make sure you have the correct doctor.
Florida Office of Insurance Regulation
The Florida Department of Insurance Regulation, or FLOIR, is a government agency responsible for regulating the state’s insurance industry and enforcing laws related to the business of insurance to promote a stable and competitive insurance market for consumers.
Florida law requires doctors to report to FLOIR any claim or actions for damages for personal injury alleged to be due to negligence, error, or omission. You can find malpractice claims through the FLOIR database. While the search form on the website looks formidable, you only need to enter the doctor’s first and last name to conduct a search. It is a lot easier than you might think.
Court Records
Most Florida civil cases are matters of public record. Under Florida law, county clerks maintain court records. If your doctor was involved in past litigation, you may be able to find the court records in the county where they practice.
However, it is not unusual for doctors to move around, especially after being the subject of a lawsuit. So you might want to also look at other counties by checking each county clerk’s office. You can use various other sources to determine where a doctor has practiced. However, a simple search usually will provide a lot of information regarding past locations of practice.
Google Search
A Google Search is another way to find information about a doctor. However, you must carefully analyze the results. Be particularly wary of AI-generated results, as such information can be incorrect. Use sources such as trusted media outlets or government websites with verified data rather than social media content.
There are ways to narrow down the search results on Google. For example, you can put terms in quotes to search for that exact wording. For example, “Dr. John Doe” produces results only with that specific name. As discussed above, this can also be a quick way to get a list of places a doctor practiced so you know where to look for more information.
You can also use a quoted name and a + sign to narrow your results. “Dr. John Doe” + lawsuit may bring past and existing claims to the top of your search results.
Online Resources for Checking Doctor Credentials and Patient Feedback
Several websites provide doctors’ backgrounds and patient reviews. If you find complaints against doctors, you should do more research. One or two bad reviews out of hundreds may not mean a lot to you. However, watch for significant negative feedback or patient comments indicating a substandard level of care. Some websites providing this information include the following:
- Healthgrades: Provides ratings, experience details, and patient reviews of doctors, helping you gauge their overall performance
- Vitals: Offers doctor profiles and patient reviews to help you determine how others view their care
- RateMDs: Features patient reviews and ratings to help you evaluate health care providers, with a focus on personal experiences and satisfaction
Reviewing a doctor’s credentials and patient reviews can be helpful, but do so in conjunction with other research. Remember, patients write the majority of these reviews. Generally, people judge professionals by personality and projected confidence rather than actual medical competence. So, while they may have the bedside manner to generate good reviews, doctors may also have a history of disciplinary actions and lawsuits. The reverse is also potentially the case where a doctor has bad reviews but is medically competent.
Professional Organizations
The American Medical Association’s Doctor Finder provides basic information such as specialty, license, and practice history but does not cover legal history or past lawsuits.
The Federation of State Medical Boards maintains DocInfo, which allows searches by state and includes past state medical board actions. Information for doctors also includes education, certifications, and active licenses.
What Does It Mean If My Doctor Has Been Disciplined or Sued?
There are several potential Florida Board of Medicine disciplinary actions, such as the following:
- Letter of Concern
- Letter of Reprimand
- Fines and court costs
- Continuing medical education in the area of complaint
- Prepared lecture to peers on the subject of the complaint
- Probation
- Suspension
- Revocation
If you find disciplinary actions in a doctor’s record before seeing them, you must determine what level of action you are willing to tolerate. If you have already seen a doctor and believe you were a victim of malpractice, some facts arising from past disciplinary actions might possibly serve as evidence in a lawsuit.
Past medical malpractice settlements or verdicts are warning signs. You may find in your search that an insurer made settlements on behalf of a doctor with no admission of liability. However, you cannot verify whether the case involved malpractice.
Lawsuit settlements can be enough to prevent you from seeing a doctor or raise the specter that your injuries may have resulted from substandard care. Cases with an admission of liability are the biggest red flags.
What Should I Do if My Doctor Has a History of Malpractice?
If you believe your doctor was negligent and harmed you, whether or not they have a history of malpractice, talk to an accomplished medical malpractice attorney. These claims are complex, and you need legal advice regarding whether you have a case.
Under Florida’s medical malpractice statute, you must prove your doctor failed to provide the standard of care a reasonably prudent health care provider would have under similar circumstances. Florida law also requires a reasonable investigation before filing a malpractice claim. This process includes having another doctor verify that there is evidence of negligence.
Do not let the complexity of malpractice cases prevent you from seeking justice. If you or a loved one has been harmed by a medical professional’s negligent actions or inactions, you deserve compensation for your damages.
At FHVG, we have the experience and skills to thoroughly investigate your malpractice case, calculate damages, and determine liability. We also have specialized tools and methods to do a deep dive into a doctor’s history and past lawsuits to discover potentially relevant information. Contact our award-winning medical malpractice attorneys for a consultation.
Hire Our Florida Attorneys for Your Medical Malpractice Case
Knowing how to find out if a doctor has been sued is essential to keeping you and your family safe. Some doctors have histories of disciplinary actions and lawsuits but continue to practice with active medical licenses.
Medical negligence can lead to additional medical procedures, deteriorating health, high medical bills, and lost time at work. At Freedland Harwin Valori Gander, we assist clients with medical malpractice claims so they don’t have to face insurance companies and a complex legal process alone. We have recovered over $2.6 billion for our deserving clients in medical malpractice and other personal injury claims.
For a free consultation, call 954-467-6400 or contact us online.
