Medical Malpractice Lawyer in Fort Lauderdale

We rely on healthcare providers to be our greatest allies and advocates, helping us to navigate our health in times of need. However, many healthcare providers can also be the cause of unfortunate or even catastrophic injuries that could become life-changing for us and our families. Preventable medical errors are the third-leading cause of death in the United States ^[1]. Negligence and careless mistakes to patients, including newborns, are generally avoidable but potentially disabling and permanent when they occur. In any of these cases, and especially in the case of wrongful death, a Fort Lauderdale medical malpractice lawyer should be contacted as soon as possible to help you fight back after this unacceptable occurrence. 

Our Fort Lauderdale medical malpractice lawyer at Schlacter Law understands the hardships that families facing preventable medical errors must endure. This negligence has caused physical, financial, and emotional distress through the actions of a doctor, nurse, hospital, medical practice, or other medical entity. Insurance companies may even try to blame you in order to reduce liability for their insured healthcare professionals. But our lawyer is familiar with this unfair practice and will help you fight back to prove liability and your damages, such as lost wages, loss of consortium, pain and suffering, and medical bills. Call Schlacter Law today by dialing (305) 999-1111 to learn how our experienced lawyer can start fighting for you. 

Medical malpractice is when your healthcare providers, such as your doctor or nurse, fail to heal you or cause injury to you. According to Florida law, this is when a healthcare provider (1) owes you a duty of care, (2) breaches that duty, and (3) the breach causes you (4) damages or injury. Determining whether or not it was the healthcare provider who caused injury and breached the duty of care is the main battle in most cases. 

An experienced Fort Lauderdale medical malpractice lawyer like ours knows which experts to call to demonstrate how a healthcare provider did not meet the standard of care. These experts needed for medical malpractice cases must be in the same or near-identical specialty with comparable skills and qualifications as the defendant. Your lawyer will find the expert(s) for you and help to show there was a breach of duty to you. On the other side, a defense lawyer may also use experts in an attempt to discredit your expert. This is why having a skilled lawyer to help boost your claim and fight back against the defendant’s lawyer and expert is necessary to protect your rights to compensation.

There are many recognized causes of malpractice in Florida. Negligent, reckless, or inexperienced conduct is responsible for most damages, however, some may be caused by inadequate staffing, unqualified staff, or lack of proper sterilization. A Fort Lauderdale medical malpractice lawyer recognizes many of these causes, including the following: 

• Delays in treatment
• Birth injuries
• Nursing home errors
• Emergency room delays or errors
• Wrong patient care or surgery
• Wrong surgery site
• Failure to diagnose a serious condition, such as heart attacks or strokes
• Anesthesia errors
• Dental malpractice
• Medication overdoses or errors
• Misreading of test results
• Many other common causes of damages that may require a lawyer

Medical malpractice, whether it occurs here in Fort Lauderdale or elsewhere, could have unfortunate, catastrophic results for the victims. Personal injuries or wrongful death caused by an incident should always be reviewed by a healthcare error lawyer. Damages your Fort Lauderdale lawyer may review and agree to represent you include:

• Traumatic brain injuries (TBI)
• Infections, including hospital-acquired injuries (HAI)
• Sepsis, especially due to improper care of wounds or inflection protocol care
• Spinal cord injuries, including paralyzes such as paraplegia or quadriplegia 
• Nerve injuries
• Hypoxic damage (deficient oxygen supply to the brain) or anoxic damage (complete lack of oxygen supply to the brain)
• Cerebral palsy
• Kernicterus
• Hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy
• Organ injuries
• Broken bones
• Pressure sores in nursing homes
• Surgical errors
• Anesthesia mishaps 
• Many other damages that require help from a Fort Lauderdale lawyer  
  

A serious and unnecessary type of injury requiring legal help is medical malpractice causing birth injuries. Florida recognizes that these injuries may happen before, during, or after the process of labor and delivery. Many of these injuries are caused by improper handling of a newborn or lack of oxygen supply to the baby. The most serious injuries to a newborn in which you should seek the help of a medical malpractice lawyer include:

• Cerebral palsy – Cerebral palsy (CP) is a condition or group of conditions that cause difficulties with the ability of a person to move ^[2]. CP is primarily due to lesions occurring in the brain during development, with a lack of oxygen supply during labor and delivery as the primary cause. A medical malpractice lawyer should be sought out when a loved one has CP because the estimated cost of lifetime care and therapy is as much as 26 times greater than the lifetime costs of someone without CP. CP includes four types:
  • Spastic CP – rigid muscles and restricted range of motion
  • Dyskinetic or Athetoid CP – involuntary movements such as jerks, shakes, and other uncontrollable movements
  • Ataxic CP –characterized by involuntary tremors occurring when attempting to make voluntary movements, especially with fine motor functions
  • Mixed CP – a combination of the above movement difficulties
• Hypoxic Ischemic Encephalopathy (HIE) – HIE is a condition that could cause cerebral palsy. HIE is damage to the brain caused by decreased or restricted blood flow. The brain needs this oxygenated blood flow in order to develop and function. This can be easily avoided with the proper care and fetal monitoring during the labor process. In cases of HIE, a Fort Lauderdale medical malpractice lawyer should be contacted because these injuries may have been caused by preventable, careless errors
• Brachial Plexus Nerve Injuries – The group of nerves that start in the neck region of the spine and go through the shoulder down to the fingertips is called the brachial plexus. These nerves help us with movement and sensation. They are typically very strong, however, improper actions during the delivery process such as pulling or yanking on an infant’s arm could cause permanent damage to these nerves, causing lifelong pain and suffering

Anesthesia is a powerful and often necessary component of many surgical procedures. Anesthesia functions by paralyzing the patient (including involuntary movements during a procedure), blocks pain, and sedates the patient. However, it takes a combination of drugs to accomplish this and any error in proportions could have overwhelmingly negative results. Our Fort Lauderdale medical malpractice lawyer may be able to help by reviewing the following anesthesia errors:

• Overdoses
• Improper nerve blocks, which can cause long-term damage to a nerve
• Failure to intubate (providing oxygen into an airway) a patient properly
• Failure to monitor a patient in post-anesthesia care units
• PCA pump malfunctions
• Many other causes to ask our lawyer about

No matter how routine or common a surgical procedure may be, mistakes can still be made causing wrongful death or life-changing personal injuries. Common surgical mistakes include surgery to the wrong patient, wrong-site surgery, and even unnecessary surgery. A qualified healthcare provider could avoid these errors, but if these providers are rushing, cutting corners, or looking to bill for more procedures, great harm could come to patients and their families. If the result from surgery or surgical error is not what it should be, a Fort Lauderdale medical malpractice lawyer should be contacted to review your records and help you protect your rights.

Hurt by a Healthcare Provider? Our Fort Lauderdale Medical Malpractice Lawyer is Ready to Fight for You

If you or a loved one is a victim of medical malpractice, you have already been through so much. Now it is our turn, we can fight back against those who have caused unnecessary harm through reckless, careless, or negligent conduct during the healthcare process. It does not matter whether you contracted an infection, been the victim of surgical errors, or had a newborn suffer unfortunate birth injuries. It’s time to learn how our Fort Lauderdale medical malpractice lawyer can help you. Call Schlacter Law at (305) 999-1111 for your FREE consultation to start protecting your rights to compensation. 

How We Handle Cases

1. Investigation
   • Your attorney will aggressively investigate your case. Schlacter Law will compile all necessary evidence needed to maximize the value of your case. Which includes but is not limited to photographs, police reports, security camera footage, witness statements, medical bills and medical records.
   • You will remain in constant contact with Schlacter Law about the progression of your case.
2. Negotiation
   • Your attorney will present your case to the insurance company and will attempt to resolve your case before the case goes to court for maximum compensation.
   • Your attorney will make every effort possible to resolve the case as quickly as possible for the most amount of money you may be entitled to. You will be actively involved in the negotiation process with your attorney. Schlacter Law understands that this is your one opportunity to get justice for your loss.
3. Litigation
   • If settlement negotiations are unsuccessful, Schlacter Law will be fully prepared to bring your case to court to fight for the justice you deserve.
   • At no cost to you, Schlacter Law will hire any experts and professionals needed to maximize your recovery and present your case in the strongest form possible.