Miami Medical Malpractice Attorneys Ready To Make A Major Difference In Your Case

A medical malpractice case is appropriate when a health care provider fails to treat a patient’s condition with the appropriate level of care. The negligence of the health care provider in misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis may result in injuries or wrongful death. Under medical malpractice law, the harmed patient or the deceased’s family is entitled to compensation.

At Kaire & Heffernan, PLLC, we have been fighting for injured patients and their families since 1997. Our attorneys have extensive experience in this complex area of law, and they advocate aggressively on behalf of clients, both in and out of the courtroom. Here are some of the benefits of working with our medical malpractice lawyers:

They Ensure Your Claim Is Accurately Valued

Attorneys Kaire and Heffernan can accurately assess the value of your claim based on their experience with other cases. They will also have access to people in the medical field and other professionals that can assist them in determining the worth of your case if it is particularly complicated. You’ll receive a full assessment of your damages and possible future expenses so you know what fair compensation would be.

Your lawyer will be able to help you find the professional experts you need to show negligence and the extent of the damages you suffered. Experts can include medical professionals like doctors, nurses, therapists, and technicians or other experts like financial advisers and investigators. These experts can help you gather evidence or provide testimony in your medical malpractice lawsuit to get you a fair settlement.

They Interact With Insurance Companies

When you work with our firm, our attorneys will handle the negotiations with the insurance company. This allows you to concentrate on your recovery while the lawyers work on your behalf. If a loved one was the medical malpractice victim and it resulted in wrongful death, our lawyers will help you get closure for you and your family. Instead of having to persuade insurance companies medical negligence was committed, your lawyer can handle the medical malpractice claim and you can grieve.

What Medical Malpractice Damages Can You Recover In Miami?

Florida medical malpractice law allows three types of compensation. They are:

Economic Damages

Economic damages are the most common form of compensation in medical malpractice cases and can include past and future medical expenses and lost wages. They may also include loss of job or business opportunities. You should also consider any other quantifiable losses that will be reimbursable by the insurance company.

Miami medical malpractice lawyers frequently submit hospital or insurance bills, paychecks, and other transaction statements that demonstrate precisely the amount a victim paid in medical bills or wages they would have earned had they not been harmed.

Noneconomic Damages

Noneconomic damages are a little more complicated. Noneconomic losses include things like the loss of enjoyment of life, disfigurement, emotional distress and suffering, and so on, caused by the medical professional. These losses may be more abstract, however, they are just as real as economic ones.

Punitive Damages

Awarding punitive damages is a rare occurrence, but they can be enacted when the actions committed by health care providers show gross negligence. They are typically designed to punish and discourage negligence with malicious intent in cases involving medical malpractice. These damages are distinct from economic and noneconomic damages in that they do not compensate for the loss of the victims of medical malpractice. They only punish the offending health care professionals.

Working With Experts To Communicate The Science Behind The Negligence

Medical malpractice is one of the most complex areas of personal injury law. In order to effectively litigate a case, a lawyer must first work to comprehend the science behind the medicine, the injury and the negligence. Our attorneys work with medical experts to analyze injuries from the doctor’s perspective. We educate clients, judges and juries to show precisely how the doctor was negligent. It’s the only way to achieve the results our clients need.

Common Medical Malpractice Cases Handled By Our Miami Lawyers

Our medical malpractice attorneys in Miami, Florida tend to focus on the following examples of medical malpractice that are common throughout Florida.

  • Delayed or missed diagnoses: When someone has a stroke, every second counts. Too often, doctors miss the obvious warning signs.
  • Improper stroke care: If you’re at high risk of stroke, you may be placed in a hospital’s stroke center for observation. It should guarantee proper care, but it doesn’t always.
  • Untreated pulmonary embolism: Pulmonary embolisms are often fatal, and doctors are supposed to be able to recognize the risks to keep them from happening unnecessarily.
  • Improper surgeries: Sometimes, doctors attempt to perform surgery that they aren’t qualified for. Mistakes can cause disability or death.
  • Untreated retinal detachment: If it goes unrecognized and untreated, retinal detachment can cause permanent disability and blindness.
  • Surgical errors: Surgical malpractice can occur when a doctor or physician does not perform your surgery up to the required standard of care. That could mean the physician was rushing the process, was lazy, took shortcuts or didn’t perform the surgery correctly.
  • Emergency room malpractice: Emergency room errors include inaccurate diagnosis of a patient’s illness, prescribing the wrong medication, misreading tests or X-rays, failure to order the proper tests and failure to diagnose.

The list above contains just some of the issues our attorneys can help you seek compensation for. Our practice is comprehensive in this area of law.


Here Is What It Takes To Prove Malpractice

In order to determine whether you have an actionable claim for medical malpractice, you will need to prove or meet five criteria. They include the following:

There Was An Established Patient-Doctor Relationship

In order to file a lawsuit, there must be a patient-doctor relationship. If you sought advice from a nontreating physician or relied on something a doctor said in passing within a casual environment, then you may not have grounds to pursue a medical malpractice lawsuit in Miami, Florida.

The Doctor Was Negligent

If a doctor’s treatment falls below the standard of care, then the doctor may have committed medical malpractice. The standard of care is based on how a similarly qualified doctor would have acted in the same circumstances. The doctor is not required to perform at a high level. They are supposed to act in a reasonably skillful and careful manner.

The Medical Negligence Resulted In An Injury

The direct cause of the injury must be the result of the medical malpractice of the doctor. This means that the injury only occurred because the doctor was negligent.

The Medical Malpractice Led To Damages

You are trying to prove that you suffered damages as a result of the doctor’s negligence. Some of the most common damages in medical malpractice cases are physical pain and suffering, mental distress, disability, past and future medical bills, and lost income/earning potential.

The Statute Of Limitations Has Not Expired

In many cases, victims have just two years from the date that they discovered their injuries to file a claim for medical malpractice. Ideally, you will act much sooner with the help of an experienced attorney.

Answers To Frequently Asked Medical Malpractice Questions

Below, we’ve provided answers to some questions we often hear from clients.

Do I have a case?

One of the most commonly asked questions from potential medical malpractice clients is: “Do you think I have a case?” To which our honest response is: “We are not sure.”

The reason that we may not be sure is that medical malpractice cases must be reviewed by experts. When a doctor leaves a foreign instrument inside a patient’s body following surgery or operates on the wrong body part, it is an obvious case of medical malpractice. But not all cases are that obvious, and that is why you need a medical malpractice lawyer who will thoroughly investigate your case and look for qualified experts to help you prove your case.

What are examples of medical malpractice?

There are many types of medical malpractice. For example, it’s malpractice whenever a foreign object, like gauze or a clamp, that should have been removed is left in someone’s body after surgery. It’s malpractice to induce a patient to agree to an experimental procedure that could harm them without them knowing all the risks. It’s malpractice to give someone the wrong medication or do surgery on the wrong body part.

Is misdiagnosis considered medical malpractice?

Misdiagnosis can be medical malpractice, but not always. Mistakes are possible even when doctors show the utmost care for their patients, especially when the symptoms of a rare illness are similar to a more common one. However, a misdiagnosis could be malpractice if the misdiagnosis was made because of a failure to meet the standard of care and if a reasonable doctor in the same position would not have made the same mistake. A good rule to remember is that a prudent medical provider should always treat the worst first.

For more answers, you can visit our medical malpractice FAQ page.

Miami Attorneys Ready To Fight For You – Contact Us Today

Have you sustained injuries in a medical procedure owing to negligence? Did your health care provider make surgical errors, medication errors, diagnostic errors or something else that led you to suffer injuries? Then you should contact our medical malpractice lawyers immediately. At Kaire & Heffernan, PLLC, we have been serving the people of Miami and South Florida since 1997 and have represented individuals in numerous injury claims. Our legal team is ready to fight for your rights and get you the compensation you deserve. Call us today at 305-376-7860 to schedule a free consultation or contact us online.

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