South Florida Personal Injury Attorney Blog

Florida birth injuries, while rare, are devastating for the victims and their families. Along with the physical and emotional trauma of birth injury, the financial burden can be just as devastating. Now, Florida lawmakers in Tallahassee agree. They recently passed House Bill 965, which is on its way to the Governor's desk. The claims bill would completely change the quality of life for Aaron Edwards, who was born with cerebral palsy 14 years ago in Lee County. In 2007, a Florida jury found that negligence by Lee Memorial Hospital employees caused Edwards' injuries during birth. The jury awarded nearly $31 million to Edwards and his parents, but the state's sovereign-immunity laws shielded Lee Memorial from having to pay that amount. Edwards requires around-the-clock physical care and he can only communicate with the use of a computer system.

National statistics find birth injuries occur in about six to eight out of every 1000 births. As any good Florida birth injury lawyer knows, many of these types of injuries are preventable and are caused by the careless actions of the doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers. Our experienced team of Florida birth injury lawyers has handled a variety of birth injury cases, including:

o Brain Damage
o Cerebral Palsy
o Shoulder Dystocia
o Erb's Palsy
o Spinal Cord Injury

The most common type of birth injury occurs when doctors use instruments, such as forceps, to aid in the delivery process. These tools can be misused and easily harm a fragile infant. During times of distress, it is critical that doctors and nurses make sure the baby has enough blood flow and oxygen to the brain; otherwise, long-lasting and sometimes fatal injuries can occur. Oftentimes, a cesarean section may be necessary in order to avoid further injury to an unborn child, and a delay in performing a cesarean section may cause serious trauma. Harm can be also be caused by the misuse of vacuum extractors or forceps. If proper and prompt care is not taken during this critical time and a birth injury results, the attending doctor(s) may be guilty of medical malpractice.

At the Law Offices of Robert Rubenstein, our Miami-Dade & Broward team of birth injury attorneys and medical malpractice lawyers will thoroughly review the circumstances of your case to determine if your child suffered an injury during birth due to the negligence of healthcare professionals. The consultation is free. Contact our offices at 1-800-FL-Legal (355-3425) or go to rubensteinlaw.com.

The term "frivolous lawsuits" keeps creeping into Florida's political lexicon, but how much of what we hear is actually true? According to the American Medical Association (AMA), not much. Governor Rick Scott visited Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami last week to highlight newly enacted legislation that in his words (via his website) "increases health care options and patient choice, improves quality of care, and protects taxpayers from skyrocketing Medicaid costs." The pharmaceutical and insurance industries would have us believe those skyrocketing costs are due to the trial lawyers and so-called frivolous lawsuits (which Gov. Scott also mentions in his website). But let's separate fact from fiction when it comes to the cost of litigation.

Myth: The rising costs associated with medical malpractice are pushing insurance premiums up and forcing doctors to quit their jobs or relocate to other states.

Fact: Data from the AMA shows physician numbers have been increasing across the board for many years.

In fact, the number of physicians in the U.S. has increased more than 40% since 1990, yet the population has only increased 18% over the same time. It's true that health care costs are rising, but medical malpractice legislation has little or nothing to do with that. According to the Congressional Budget Office, malpractice litigation amounted to less than 2% of overall health care spending.

Myth: The number of lawsuits filed is skyrocketing.

Fact: The number of personal injury cases has declined for years. According to the National Center for State Courts, tort cases made up just 4% of all civil cases filed in 2008. That number is down 25% since 1999.

Myth: Small businesses are hurt the most by injury lawsuits.

Fact: Giant corporations fear lawsuits the most and fight the hardest to pass reform.

As a Miami business owner myself, I can tell you my daily worries have nothing to do with fear of being sued. In fact, a survey by the National Federation of Independent Business found "costs and frequency of lawsuits" ranked 65th of a list of small business owners' worries. Economic worries far outranked tort reform concern for small business. But "big business" is another story. In reality, it is Big Oil, Big Insurance and Big Drug companies that lobby the most for lawsuit reform in this country.

And here is my favorite...

Myth: Lawsuits are out of control when people sue because they spilled hot coffee in their lap.

Facts: Ms. Stella Liebeck has been mocked for years by those looking to destroy the civil justice system. But there is absolutely nothing funny about this now-infamous case. Ms. Liebeck's injuries included third-degree burns to her groin, inner thighs, and buttocks. She spent eight days in the hospital having painful skin grafting and surgical removal of tissue. Despite critics' claims that the victim was "looking to make some money," Ms. Liebeck originally asked to settle her claim with McDonald's for a mere $20,000, but McDonald's refused. Over the course of the case, the fast food chain produced documents showing more than 700 other patrons has been severely burned by the coffee over a 10-year period (some as severe as Ms. Liebeck's). McDonald's own quality assurance manager testified that burns can be severe with coffee hotter than 140 degrees, yet the company kept the coffee warm at 185 degrees.
When all was said and done, the jury awarded Ms. Liebeck $2.7 million in punitive damages (about two days worth in coffee sales for McDonald's), which was eventually reduced to $480,000.

There are many more facts about this case that might shock you. I highly recommend a new documentary (now showing on HBO) called Hot Coffee. It's an excellent look at how media perception is often different from the facts of high profile injury cases.

It's true, there are frivolous lawsuits but judges throw those out of court to make room for legitimate cases. My advice to anyone who thinks injury lawsuits are "frivolous" or otherwise is...do your homework and don't believe media hype.

As a Miami Accident Attorney, I know that "accidents" doesn't just refer to car accidents. Each year, thousands of Florida patients fall victim to "medical accidents" in hospitals and medical offices. What's more, most of these accidents are preventable. That's why it saddens me that the Florida Legislature has again passed a series of laws which will make it increasingly difficult for injured Floridians to seek justice for their injuries at the hands of negligent doctors and nurses.

This week, the Florida Senate passed the Florida House of Representative's bill, number 479, which sets sweeping new rules for how malpractice attorneys can pursue justice and how victims of medical accidents can recover for their losses. In particular, the bill excludes a doctor or hospital's failure to comply with federal requirements from evidence in certain cases. There is also an invasion of privacy issue because the bill now allows a medical malpractice defendant to interview the victim's other treating doctors, in private and without requiring the presence of the injured victim, or his or her attorney. It's my opinion the only purpose of such unsupervised meetings is to pressure the treating doctors into giving testimony that is favorable to the defendant doctor or hospital. It does not protect the injured victim.

In other words, if the new government in Tallahassee makes enough hoops for the injury victims to jump through, eventually he or she will give up the fight. The rights of the doctors and the powerful hospitals are apparently more important than the rights of the individual. What's more this new legislation will do nothing to insure that health care providers do what is needed to prevent their errors in the first place. A sad day for Florida citizens, indeed.