Florida Injury Lawyer Blog

Our Coral Gables medical injury law firm was horrified to learn about the Florida Legislature's passing of HB 479. This law evidences the further destruction of the legal rights of injured patients, while continuing to provide dangerous and unconstitutional protection for doctors and hospitals. The law is dangerous in that, rather than motivating safer and more humane care for patients, it actually insulates health care providers from legal accountability for their errors.

Yesterday, we discussed how Bill 479 affects expert witness testimony. Today, in Part Two, we discuss "Informed Consent" as it applies to cataract surgery. Cataract surgery is the removal of the eye lens often involving replacement with an artificial lens. Complications to the procedure are bleeding, swelling, retinal detachment and often a secondary cataract.

Florida already had in place the Florida Medical Consent Law that requires doctors to inform and advise patients of the risks of undergoing a procedure. These are often thrust into the hands of a nervous patient moments before the procedure begins. There is no requirement that the consents be uniform, nor that they be in the language of the patient, nor that they be of a certain size font or type set, nor provided days or weeks before the procedure. Of course not, because that would simply make the patient more "informed."

For some inexplicable reason, the Florida Legislature decided that, of all the types of procedures being performed in Florida, cataract surgery needed to have its own informed consent form. This special consent form, if signed by the patient, creates a rebuttable presumption that the doctor actually disclosed the risks to the patient. Therefore, no recovery would be allowed if the patient is injured by a "risk described" in the informed consent.

As a Miami lawyer who represents the elderly, I can only imagine that this law was passed to provide special treatment to eye surgeons to protect them from claims from the injured elderly and those with vision problems who had disputed whether they were properly informed of cataract surgery risks. These are the patients who would most likely be unable to read or understand the consent forms that are thrust into their hands along with insurance papers and prescription authorizations. If the Florida Legislature was truly concerned with having a presumption of proof of informed consent they should have required that the physician performing the procedure personally meet with and video tape the consultation and consent. I am sure that the surgeon that can perform surgery with a laser can operate a video camera, too. If Governor Scott really wants to make sure patients give informed consent, he should have surgeons carefully go through all of the risks with the patient on camera. I am sure that is more reliable than a signature on the bottom line.

Continue reading "Florida Governor Scott Loves Cataract Surgeons " »

As a Florida hospital injury lawyer, I have seen injured patients have their rights chipped away little-by-little. Today, Governor Scott and our Florida Legislature took a wrecking ball to patients' rights and to the U.S Constitution when he signed into law Florida House Bill 479. I am sure that, unless you are a lawyer who specializes in the representation of injured Florida patients you may find it difficult to comprehend the damage this law will cause. The new law's scope is so profound I have to blog in parts.

Here is Part One:

Bill 479 creates a mandatory expert witness certification requirement for out-of-state experts that testify in medical malpractice cases. While this seems harmless, in reality most people do not understand how difficult it already is to obtain expert witness help on behalf of patients. Let's start with Florida Statute §766.203(2)'s requirement that before any doctor or hospital can be sued for malpractice, the patient has to have a sworn affidavit signed by a doctor who is of the same specialty as the potential defendant and has worked in the same specialty for the previous three years. The witness must literally swear that the defendant committed malpractice. Sound simple enough? It's not. In fact, it is very expensive and nearly impossible to find anyone locally who will testify against a fellow doctor in the same community. Most fear that they will be ostracized and blackballed from getting staff privileges, speaking invitations or pharmaceutical grants. This forces injured patients and their lawyers to search out of the state to find willing experts.

Now, Governor Scott passed a law that requires one more hurdle. The expert has to be certified by the Florida Department of Health and pay $50.00. I wonder who at the Department of Health is going to be the gatekeeper on this? The new law goes further in that it will allow the imposition of discipline against the expert who provides "deceptive or fraudulent expert testimony related to the practice of medicine." If it was not difficult enough to find a willing and qualified expert to testify on behalf of an injured patient, now experts are potentially subject to discipline if the Department of Health or the defendant doctor disagree with what they say. After all, isn't this what juries are for?

It sounds to me that Governor Scott and the Florida legislature would prefer to just give doctors and hospitals complete immunity from accountability for the harm they cause, just like foreign diplomats, governmental contractors or big oil companies. That is until someone injures Governor Scott or his family.

Our Florida hip implant injury law firm receives several unsolicited resumes a week from recent law school graduates applying for positions at our South Florida personal injury law office.

Getting your resume into the right hands has never been more of a challenge than in today's current job market. If you blindly mass send your resume to a number of law firms, you will be lucky to get your resume past whomever they entrust to sort their junk mail from pleadings.

Today, the best way to get your resume into the right hand starts with figuring out where and how you would be the best fit for the potential employer. This starts with a long, hard look in the mirror and some hard-answered question. Ask yourself if you really, truly want to be a lawyer, and if so what kind. Like most recent law school grads, you probably know very few real lawyers, if any. So, meeting real lawyers is the first step and the sooner that starts the better.

In my book, "Make It Your Own Law Firm. The Ultimate Law Student's Guide to Owning, Managing and Marketing Your Own Successful Law Firm" I provide a detailed road map as to how to acquire and keep meaningful contacts that can and should become your mentors once you graduate.

The bottom line is you have to meet lawyers. Take a look at your state's bar journal or your city's or town's local bar association web site and find events that you can attend now. Most have weekly or monthly luncheons, meetings or cocktail parties that you can attend for little to nothing as a law student or recent graduate.

Lawyers to the Rescue is another excellent way for law students to meet and work with lawyers. Lawyers to the Rescue is a non-denominational humanitarian organization created by lawyers committed to bringing legal assistance and humanitarian support to people around the world in times of crisis--regardless of their race, religion, sexual orientation or political affiliation.

I believe one should create the relationship first with the potential employer and the interview will surely follow.

As a Florida medical malpractice attorney, few cases are as factually complex as those involving the suicide of an hospitalized or recently-discharged patient. Our Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawyers most often review cases where the death is caused from surgical mistakes or misdiagnosis. However, when the death of a hospital patient is the result of suicide we believe that it is a preventable and avoidable event.

Some suggest that the increase in hospital inpatient suicides, especially among men, is due to shorter duration of admission, inadequate doses of medication and careless assessment of patients given permission to go off ward.

According to the World Health Organization, nearly a million people commit suicide every year worldwide. The primary risk factors are mental illness, depression and recent increase or sudden change in substance abuse. Surprisingly, the rates of suicide have increased by 60% over the last 45 years. Evidence shows that adequate prevention and restriction to common methods of suicide such as firearms and pesticides have proven to be dramatically effective.

The Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE) have identified five common misconceptions about suicide:

1. People who talk about it don't do it.
2. Anyone who tries to commit suicide must be insane.
3. If someone truly wants to commit suicide, nothing will stop them.
4. People who commit suicide do not want help.
5. Mentioning suicide might give someone the idea.

If you are contemplating suicide or believe that a friend or family member is in immediate danger call 911 or the National Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK. Do not hesitate, even if you are worried about risking a friendship.

Continue reading "Suicide Warning Signs for Post Hospitalization" »

Bruce Shemrock
Trial Lawyer, Aronfeld Trial Lawyers

As a law firm that sues drug companies we were surprised to discover the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 23, 2011 that generic drug companies cannot be sued under state law over allegations that they failed to provide adequate label warnings about potential side effects. In the case they heard, the generic drug manufacturers argued that federal law barred these suits because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the subject name brand drugs, and that federal law requires generics to have the same labels as the name brand.

However, in 2009, the Supreme Court ruled that drug regulations do not protect pharmaceutical companies from being sued in state courts over drug labeling and failure to warn consumers of possible side effects. In this year's ruling, the Court agreed with the generic drug manufacturers that, because of the federal labeling law, they had no choice but to put the same labels on their products as the name brand drug manufacturers. Generic drug companies are therefore protected from responsibility for failure to warn of possible side effects if such warnings do not appear on the name brand drug label.

Some argue that this will change the face of drug dispensing. Consumers with good insurance or the ability to pay may now choose to take the name brand to get the extra protection of the possibility of suit should something go wrong. Others opine that prices of generic drugs may fall due to this new-found protection from lawsuits.

Our Florida defective product lawyers advise our friends and clients, to now carefully consider the question, "Is generic okay?" when you have prescriptions filled. Are you willing to forfeit your right to a claim should something go wrong for the sake of saving a few dollars? Theoretically, you could have a viable claim for injuries and a perfect right to assert your claim for injury in court, but such claim is completely barred by this ruling if the drug that injured you was generic.

As a Florida medical malpractice lawyer, nothing shocks me more than cases of wrong-site surgery. This is such a fundamental and avoidable blunder I am surprised that it occurs at all. Wrong-site surgeries are where doctors, hospitals or other health-care providers simply operate on the wrong site, perform the wrong procedure or perform a procedure on the wrong patient.

In 2004 the Joint Commission, a not-for-profit organization that accredits and certifies hospitals and other health-care organizations in the United States, approved a Universal Protocol for Preventing Wrong Site Procedures and Surgeries.

The Universal Protocol provides a step-by-step verification process that addresses information or discrepancies before a procedure is even started. Once the information is obtained and verified the procedure site must be marked in a specific way. As a Miami medical mistake lawyer, I believe that one of the most crucial steps that is often overlooked is the involvement of the patient in the marking process. Obviously marking is not possible in all types of procedures, especially those that involve internal organs or interventional procedures where catheters are used.

Lastly, the Universal Protocol requires a "time out" so that all team members, surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses and techs can all agree that they have the correct patient, correct site and correct procedure. When multiple procedures are performed on the same patient another time out should be called before starting each procedure.

A recent Archives of Surgery study showed that 72 percent of wrong-site procedures occurred because the doctor failed to participate in the time out. Hospitals are quick to blame doctors when this happens but its a surgical team failure whenever a surgery begins on the wrong site.

As a Florida lawyer and founding member of Lawyers to the Rescue, I am pleased to announce the launch of our national fundraising campaign: 100 DAYS, 100 PEOPLE, 100 DOLLARS.

Lawyers to the Rescue is a humanitarian not-for-profit initiative created by lawyers committed to bringing legal assistance and humanitarian support to people around the world in times of crisis--regardless of their race, religion, sexual orientation or political affiliation. It is now launching a summer fundraising drive to support its outreach programs:

Our goal is that in next 100 DAYS, 100 PEOPLE will donate 100 DOLLARS and become Lawyers to the Rescue Heroes.

Everyone who contributes $100 will receive:
- Membership in Lawyers to the Rescue
- 100 Heroes Limited Edition Lapel Pin
- Autographed copy of "Sara Rose, Kid Lawyer."

Your gift can be recognized publicly, unless you prefer to give anonymously.

Donations are accepted on-line at: Lawyers to the Rescue. Proceeds benefit programs such as homeless legal clinics and anti-school-bullying symposiums. An average of 90 cents of every dollar Lawyers to the Rescue spends is invested in humanitarian services and programs. Lawyers to the Rescue is not a government agency; it relies on donations of time, money, and love to do its work.

Lawyers to the Rescue is a nonprofit, tax-exempt, publicly supported organization under Sections 501(c)(3) and 509(a)(1) of the IRS Code, and is incorporated and registered in Florida. All donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.

As a Florida personal injury attorney and author of "Make It Your Own Law Firm," I am pleased to appear on Ann Levine's blog radio show to discuss how law students can and should prepare for their legal careers before even attending their first class.

Ann Levine is an experienced law school admissions director and is dedicated to helping people get into not only the law school they want, but the right law school. She is interviewing me because I believe that getting into law school is not the goal but only the beginning. Law students need to take a more proactive role in their careers as lawyers in addition to focusing on their legal education before they graduate.

As a Florida injury lawyer wrote "Make It Your Own Law Firm" to help guide law students into making an easier transition, not just from student to lawyer but to law firm owner. You can join me on Ann's show tomorrow by clicking on link below:

Click here to purchase your copy of "Make It Your Own Law Firm."

The expression "shooting the messenger" took on new meaning when Strax Rejuvenation the high volume South Florida plastic surgery center we are suing on behalf of a number of patients and their families claiming to be victims of plastic surgery malpractice; filed its own lawsuit against NBC News and its famed reporter Williard Sheppard for libel.

Read the lawsuit here:

WTVJ - Complaint in re. Strax litigation (00018684).PDF

Our Broward plastic and cosmetic surgery lawyers represent victims of botched procedures. One our our goals is to communicate the potential risks of plastic surgery while educating and empowering consumers to make informed decisions about the doctors and facilities they entrust their lives to. As a Florida hospital patent's rights advocate I hope that this law suit does not deter the media from reporting cases like Lidvian Zelaya's.