Whenever you visit a medical professional of any kind, you expect to receive proper care. That’s not always what happens, however. Each year, hundreds of thousands of people in the country die or are seriously injured because of avoidable medical errors. Misdiagnoses alone cause an average of 795,000 deaths or permanent disabilities annually.
If you have suffered an injury because of a medical error, filing a complaint against a Jacksonville, Florida, medical professional or healthcare facility could be the best way of receiving compensation. At Baggett Law Personal Injury Lawyers, our team of Jacksonville medical malpractice lawyers can offer the support you need. Contact us today at (904) 396-1100
How Baggett Law Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help After an Accident in Jacksonville, FL
A medical professional who doesn’t offer the necessary care to their patients can cause catastrophic injuries. If their conduct results in you suffering losses, you may be able to hold them responsible for medical malpractice. Because that’s never an easy thing to prove, it’s vital that you have experienced Jacksonville personal injury attorneys by your side.
At Baggett Law Personal Injury Lawyers, our team can help you with a variety of services. We can:
- Provide continuous legal support
- Assess your claim during a free consultation
- Investigate the incident that led to your injuries
- Gather evidence, including expert testimonies
- Communicate and negotiate with insurance companies
- Take the case to court, if necessary
We’ve been helping the people of Florida for more than a decade, and we can help you through this difficult time, too. Our team provides personalized and compassionate representation to each of our clients so that they never feel alone through this process. Contact our Jacksonville medical malpractice lawyers to learn more about our services.
What Is Medical Malpractice?
Medical malpractice refers to a medical professional providing care that falls below the accepted standard. As with other types of personal injury claims, one of the requirements you must meet before you can hold another party liable is to show that they were negligent.
To do this, you have to establish that the person owed you a duty of care that they breached and that their conduct resulted in your losses. When dealing with medical malpractice claims, you must be able to show that another similarly trained medical professional wouldn’t have made the same mistake.
Florida requires that you present an affidavit from a medical professional in the same field as the defendant when you file your medical malpractice claim. If you fail to do so, your claim will be thrown out.
You also don’t have an unlimited amount of time to file your claim. The statute of limitations for these cases is generally two years from when the malpractice occurred. This can be extended to four years under the Statute of Repose or seven years if the defendant concealed the malpractice.
Although this amount of time can seem like enough, it’s vital that you begin the claim process as quickly as you can. The more you wait, the easier it will be for evidence to get lost, witnesses to no longer be available, and many other issues to arise.
How To File a Complaint Against a Medical Professional
In Florida, you must file a complaint against a medical professional or healthcare facility with the Florida Department of Health. This is not a simple process, so it is always important to have an attorney helping you. You don’t want to make mistakes that could lead to your claim being thrown out.
With your lawyer, you can start gathering all of the necessary paperwork that demonstrates the error that the professional made. This includes the required affidavit. Having an attorney helping you makes this part of the process easier, too, since you won’t have to look for an expert witness on your own. Lawyers typically have lots of contacts to whom they can reach out.
Once all of the evidence is ready, your legal team can file the claim. The medical professional will be notified that there has been a claim made against them, but the actual complaint remains confidential until ten days after the probable cause panel of the Florida Board of Medicine determines medical malpractice occurred.
Contact Our Jacksonville, FL, Medical Malpractice Lawyers for a Free Consultation
The process of filing a medical malpractice claim in Jacksonville, Florida, is never easy, especially if you’re dealing with serious injuries. To give your claim the best chance, it’s essential that you hire experienced lawyers to represent you.
At Baggett Law Personal Injury Lawyers, we can assist you through every step of the claim process. Because we have litigation experience, we can also take the case to court. Contact our team of Jacksonville medical malpractice lawyers to begin.
