Medical Malpractice Lawyers Obtain $30 Million Jury Verdict
As Orlando medical malpractice lawyers, we find the recent medical malpractice trial of a woman who lost her fingers and feet after complications of tummy tuck surgery both encouraging and disappointing. Through their $30-million verdict, this medical malpractice jury held both the admitting hospital and doctors liable for the injury and loss. That is encouraging, but due to Florida’s "Good Samaritan" law the matter is not yet resolved. Indeed, it appears that one doctor who participated in this medical nightmare may well escape the jurors’ judgment. That is the disappointing aspect of this medical malpractice lawsuit.
In the continuing fight to avoid liability for medical malpractice, insurers, hospitals and doctors have been successful in passing legislation that protects emergency room doctors from malpractice awards as long as a jury finds they did not act recklessly. So, a victim can no longer hold an emergency doctor responsible for serious injury or death caused by carelessness and unreasonable conduct during an “emergency” visit.
In this case, while finding fault, jurors determined that one of the two doctors did not act with reckless disregard. Under the Good Samaritan law that may well permit that doctor to escape responsibility for his actions.
Another aspect of this case worth noting involves the time of the medical malpractice. As we have discussed in a previous post, medical malpractice appears to occur more on weekends. In this case, the plaintiff’s troubles culminated on Super Bowl Sunday 2001 when an ambulance carried her to Memorial Hospital in Tampa. She had undergone a tummy tuck 20 days earlier to repair abdominal muscle damage from three caesarean sections. Blood and fluid had collected in her wound. Her fingers were blue. Her surgeon was out of town and another doctor provided her care. Of course, this set the stage for the tragedy that eventually occurred.
