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Florida Surgical Malpractice Attorney

When you need surgery, you put a lot of trust in your surgeon to make the right decisions for your health. Unfortunately, surgical errors happen more than you might think. If you suffer harm from a surgeon’s negligence or mistakes, a Florida surgery error lawyer with Freedland Harwin Valori Gander can help you pursue justice. We help victims and their families fight for fair compensation for their damages.

Written and edited by our team of expert legal content writers and reviewed and approved by Daniel Harwin

Content last updated on:
November 14, 2024

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Undergoing surgery is stressful for patients and their loved ones. You are completely relying on the skills and competence of the surgeon performing the procedure. When a doctor makes surgical errors or does not provide the level of care expected of their position, patients can suffer serious injuries and long-term consequences.

If you were injured due to surgical malpractice in Florida, you deserve justice. A Florida surgery malpractice lawyer with Freedland Harwin Valori Gander can help you seek the maximum amount for your damages and hold the negligent surgeon accountable for their carelessness. Contact our Florida medical malpractice law firm to schedule a free case evaluation today.

What Defines Surgical Malpractice in Florida?

In Florida, surgical errors and malpractice resulting from a surgeon’s failure to provide the required standard of care may constitute medical malpractice.

To meet this standard of care, health care providers must act in the same way that a similar reasonable and prudent health care provider would act in the same circumstances. Malpractice means the surgeon acted negligently because they didn’t meet this standard, resulting in surgical errors and preventable injuries to the patient.

The error could be a careless action or the surgeon’s failure to take action. To pursue a surgical malpractice claim, the patient must also sustain damages or losses from their injuries.

Surgical malpractice victims may qualify to claim compensation and recover damages if a surgeon’s mistakes caused their injuries and suffering. Consult an experienced surgical injury lawyer to see if you have a case and what your claim may be worth.

Steps To Take if You Suspect a Surgical Error Occurred

If you suspect surgical malpractice or errors during surgery after you or a family member underwent a procedure, acting quickly is vital. The steps you take could affect your health and help preserve crucial evidence if you decide to take legal action.

Do not ignore signs from your body that something is not right.
Get a medical evaluation from another doctor immediately.
Avoid discussing malpractice with your surgeon before you speak with an attorney.
Document and journal all symptoms and side effects you experience.
Keep copies of all your medical records and bills.
Contact a surgical malpractice lawyer to help you navigate the process.

Contact Freedland Harwin Valori Gander to schedule a free case evaluation if you need a trusted surgical error attorney in Florida. We can answer your questions, help you understand your rights, and explain your legal options.

Why Choose the Surgical Malpractice Attorneys at Freedland Harwin Valori Gander?

At Freedland Harwin Valori Gander, our personal injury law firm specializes in helping medical malpractice victims protect their rights and maximize their recoveries. With over 20 years of experience representing surgical malpractice clients in Florida and nationwide, we have the skills and determination to take on large insurance companies and health care corporations that unfairly deny claims.

Our caring and compassionate surgical injury attorneys provide the following legal services:

Thorough investigations to determine what caused the surgical error
Collection of crucial evidence to build your case
Open communication and guidance throughout the claims process
Aggressive negotiations with insurance adjusters on your behalf
Extensive trial experience if we need to take your case to court
Resources and support to help you and your family during this difficult time

Because some of our attorneys have experience defending doctors and insurance providers, we have a unique advantage when pursuing justice for our clients. We know the tactics health care providers and insurance companies use and have proven strategies to fight back. We have recovered over $2.6 billion in settlements and verdicts and are ready to help you pursue the compensation you deserve.

We have handled cases against hospitals that improperly credentialed surgeons that they knew or should have known had very high complication rates. We have also represented hundreds of victims who had surgeries performed on them that were unnecessary and then were exposed to complications from surgeries that never should have been done.

The lawyers at FHVG have handled numerous complicated medical malpractice surgical cases, including but not limited to, orthopedic joint replacements, neurosurgery cases involving the neck and spine, cardiothoracic cases related to valve replacements and dissections, and many others. Our experienced team has the knowledge and tenacity to dig into the medicine to understand if a surgical error could have been avoided.

Surgery Malpractice Case Results That We've Obtained

$2.7 Million Settlement – Failure to appropriately interpret pathology after a nasal surgery that led to a delay in diagnosis of cancer.
$2.6 Million Settlement – Failure to diagnose a pre-operative EKG that led to an improper clearance for surgery and caused the decedent to have a myocardial infarction.
$1.85 Million Settlement – A hospital negligently credentialed a surgeon and allowed him to perform spinal surgery that led to a severe intra-operative injury.

Role of a Florida Surgery Malpractice Lawyer

Working with a skilled Florida surgical injury attorney can put you in a better position to recover the full value of your damages. Your lawyer will build a strong case based on clear evidence and take your case as far as it needs to go to fight for fair compensation.

Because surgical malpractice claims are particularly complex, it’s important to find a specialized attorney who understands the requirements of these cases. The surgery malpractice lawyers at Freedland Harwin Valori Gander have decades of experience and are passionate about helping Florida victims and their families. Schedule a free consultation with our team to learn more.

We’ve helped people in numerous types of surgery malpractice cases, including:

Lawsuits against surgical centers
Spinal cord surgery
Cardiothoracic surgery
Coronary artery bypass graft
Plastic surgery
C-Section
Hysterectomy
Neurosurgery
Joint replacement
Bariatric surgery
General surgery
Medical device implants and/or removal

Your Legal Rights and Compensation in a Florida Surgery Malpractice Lawsuit

Florida’s medical malpractice laws give victims the right to take legal action if their health care provider’s failure to provide the required standard of care caused their injuries. However, the burden of proof falls on the victim to show that their injury resulted from the doctor’s negligence.

If you’re a surgical malpractice victim, you may face expensive medical bills, lengthy hospital stays, a high risk of further complications, and severe emotional distress. You deserve compensation for these losses.

You may qualify to recover the following damages in your surgical error case:

Medical expenses: If the error led to restorative or corrective medical procedures, additional surgeries, additional hospital stay or recovery, or any other expenses, the plaintiff can receive compensation for all medical expenses resulting from the error including future cost of medical care as well.
Lost income: A surgical error may leave a patient unable to work or unable to return to work for an extended time. He or she may seek damages for the wages lost in that time, or the wages he or she would have reasonably expected to earn in the future.
Pain and suffering: The experience of suffering an injury is often worse for victims than the economic fallout, and the court (or jury) will usually award pain and suffering damages to compensate a plaintiff’s physical pain, mental anguish, loss of ability to enjoy life and emotional suffering resulting from the defendant’s negligence.
Loss of enjoyment of life
Punitive damages, in some cases: In extraordinary cases involving conduct such that which is wanton willful or intentionally harmful behavior, the plaintiff may receive additional compensation in the form of punitive damages. As the name suggests, this compensation aims to punish defendants and discourage similar behavior in the future.

Types of Surgical Malpractice

Because surgeries are often complicated, a patient can suffer an injury in many ways. Common types of surgical errors and malpractice include:

Performing the procedure on the wrong patient
Operating on the incorrect body part
Completing the wrong surgical procedure
Leaving a foreign object inside the patient
Failure to properly sanitize the surgical instruments or area
Anesthesia errors before or during surgery
Damaging healthy organs during the procedure
Mislabeled surgical specimens
Performing an unnecessary surgery
Failing to identify an intraoperative complication

free consultation anytime, anywhere.

ALL FIELDS REQUIRED

CASE RESULTS

$24.5 Million

MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

JURY VERDICT

Damages Jury Verdict on behalf of the family of a 34-year-old woman who bled to death during childbirth. With the assistance of top experts, we were able to demonstrate that doctors did not follow proper safety protocols, forcing the defendants to admit liability shortly before trial.

$12.2 Million

PHARMACEUTICAL LIABILITY

SETTLEMENT

A settlement won on behalf of the family of a 47 year old woman whose death resulted from the use of a dangerous pharmaceutical drug. We proved the manufacturer knew of the dangerous side effects & did not provide proper warning.

$10 Million

BIRTH INJURY

SETTLEMENT

A settlement on behalf of a child who suffered a brain injury as a result of oxygen deprivation during birth. Through years of tactical and technical litigation, we were able to prove that the nurses and physicians both failed to intervene and prevent the brain injury.

$1.2 Million

MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENT

SETTLEMENT

A settlement on behalf of a middle-aged man who was read ended by a waste management truck.

$1.5 Million

NURSING HOME NEGLIGENCE

SETTLEMENT

A settlement on behalf of the family of an elderly man who died as a result of being neglected and uncared for by a nursing home.

TESTIMONIALS

I met Dan when I was in therapy and he came and right away it felt like a family member visiting you, a connection, like a brother. He’s been on both sides of the fence. He’s represented the hospitals and the doctors, and then he jumped over to the other side. It is a fantastic group, it was like Bell Belichick leading the team. They changed my life and still check on me. I recommend FHV to anybody and they thank me.

LARRY

I met Dan about a year ago. He never made me feel that it was about the money. When he spoke with me he was asking how Bill (my brother) was and if he was doing better. He made me feel like family and always asked if I was alright. That means a lot. Everyday is something new and I challenge for my brother. I would recommend [FHV] to everybody because I really believe that they’re helping from their hearts… from a really good place.

BILL

For anyone to represent anyone for 5 years and take the time to do it, not once just “get it out of the way” and “get it done with”. It was about what was best for Hunter and our family. It was about the case and the people.

ASHLEY

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Distinction Between Surgical Malpractice and Common Surgical Complications

If you or a loved one experienced adverse effects after surgery, it’s important to understand the difference between surgical malpractice and common surgical complications. Surgical malpractice specifically refers to a medical error, negligence, or inadequate treatment that results in injuries and damages.

On the other hand, surgical complications are unexpected events that can happen during or after the procedure. If caught early, complications typically resolve without serious or long-term issues. Examples may include postoperative bleeding, infection, or side effects from medications.

Some complications may be unavoidable and not result from any negligence by health care providers. However, some complications may be preventable with the exercise of reasonable care by the provider. A surgical malpractice lawyer can help you understand these terms and determine if your situation amounts to medical malpractice under Florida law.

Common Causes of Surgical Malpractice

According to a study published by StatPearls, surgical errors happen as a result of several common causes, including:

How to Prove Surgery Malpractice in Florida

The plaintiff must show that the doctor was negligent. This means proving that the doctor failed to meet an acceptable standard of care for the procedure. Often, this is just a lack of good judgment on behalf of the doctor.
1. This could also be due to incompetence, poor training, poor communication with surgical staff, improper shortcuts during treatment, using unapproved or unorthodox treatments without justification, improper patient monitoring, fatigue, drug abuse, or simple neglect. This requires testimony from an expert witness with medical training who can speak to the appropriateness of the defendant’s actions.
Next, the plaintiff must show the court that his or her damages were directly caused or substantially contributed to by healthcare provider’s negligence.
Finally, the plaintiff must be able to prove that actual harm or injury occurred because of the negligence.

Schedule a Free Consultation With Our Florida Surgery Malpractice Lawyers

At Freedland Harwin Valori Gander, we know how difficult it can be for patients injured during surgery. That’s why we have dedicated our careers to helping medical malpractice clients and their families claim the financial support they’re entitled to after surgical negligence. Our compassionate legal professionals provide personalized representation and treat each client like family.

Put our decades of experience in the medical malpractice field to work for you. Call (954) 467-4600 or fill out a form online for a free case evaluation—anytime, anywhere. We’ll be with you and your family every step of the way.