Hospitals, outpatient service buildings, doctors’ offices, birthing centers and similar facilities exist throughout Florida to provide quality health care for patients. While there is an inherent risk involved with every medical procedure, that risk increases when professionals fail in their duty to keep patients safe. Sadly, many severe health care injuries (and fatalities) occur every year due to medical negligence.
The term “never event” refers to medical errors that should never occur but do when one or more people in a patient’s line of care are negligent. Such events include medical procedures like surgery, and product manufacturing (of medical equipment, drugs and devices), as well as environmental and criminal events. Florida law allows anyone who has suffered an injury due to medical negligence to seek restitution.
Examples of never events caused by medical negligence
There are numerous types of never events that cause Florida patients to suffer adverse health conditions, many of which can be life-threatening:
- Surgeries: wrong procedure, wrong patient or wrong body part, as well as issues such as foreign objects being left inside a patient’s body
- Products and devices: contaminated drugs, defective equipment or misuse of medical devices
- Medication errors: wrong drug, wrong patient, wrong dose, etc., as well as lethal combination of drugs
- Care management errors: low-risk patient dies during treatment or while being monitored in a health care setting, failure to communicate or follow up with radiology, laboratory or pathology tests
These never events would have been easily preventable were it not for medical negligence.
To discuss a particular case, a recovering patient or immediate family member of a deceased patient can schedule a meeting with an experienced personal injury attorney. Maximum compensation for damages varies by case. An attorney can ensure that a plaintiff receives the full amount to which he or she is entitled under Florida law.
