Florida Medical Malpractice Lawyer Nightmare
As Orlando medical malpractice lawyers handling significant injury and wrongful death claims in this most challenging area of injury law, we sometimes think our colleagues on the defense side have it too easy. Few Orlando medical malpractice lawyers would tell you that it is easy to sue careless doctors or hospitals in light of the insurance industry propaganda, the media coverage of the so-called medical malpractice crisis and the arbitrary limits on non-economic damages. Yet, we should remember the burdens that medical malpractice lawyers defending these doctors and hospitals must bear.
The recent verdict for a patient who suffered a stroke that was misdiagnosed as sinusitis demonstrates what can happen to lawyers defending a medical malpractice case that goes south. In that case, a former pro basketball player in the Philippines, went to a Florida community hospital emergency room complaining of nausea, headache, dizziness and double vision. He was sent home five hours later with a painkiller prescription and a diagnosis of sinusitis. No one realized the patient was having a stroke. He returned to the hospital with more severe symptoms the next morning and underwent surgery hours later to relieve brain swelling. He ended up in a coma for three months and emerged from it permanently disabled.
The story did not end with the medical malpractice lawyers for the doctors enjoying their hourly fees and simply moving on to the next case. No, the doctors who were the target of that lawsuit have sued their lawyers. The doctors allege that their attorneys turned down settlement offers within their policy limits and which represented a fraction of the final judgment. The doctors also claim that their medical malpractice lawyers did not communicate adequately and failed to appropriately protect their interests.
I find persuasive the post on the Chicago Personal Injury Law Blog, entitled How Do You Defend The Indefensible? In addressing this case that post concluded that the doctors’ liability appeared clear but the medical malpractice insurance company involved “stuck to the industry standard of delay, deny, and defend.” In my personal experience with this medical malpractice insurer, Pro National, I have encountered similar tactics. In one medical malpractice case this insurer offered no settlement offer to my client; however, our Orlando jury returned a verdict of $30,000,000.
