The Many Presuit Requirements that Must Occur Prior to Filing A Medical Malpractice Case

Filing a Florida Medical Malpractice case is much different than most all other types of cases involving negligence. (This is true for most states as well.) In 1985 the Florida legislature created a plan which included that prior to filing the Complaint to initiate the case, many presuit requirements must be met. The process is detailed, lengthy and can be expensive. Your attorney will be required to do the following:

1. First, the lawyer must conduct an investigation to verify that there are reasonable grounds to believe that a medical professional was negligent and that the negligence resulted in injury to the claimant;

2. You or your attorney must gather the medical records from the various health care providers and review them documents for proof of the negligence;

3. Next and possibly the most expensive of the process, the records must be sent to a medical expert who is a of the same medical specialty to review. If they also conclude that there is a case, the next step can take place;

4. Once the expert finds that they also conclude negligence occurred they must execute a “verified written medical expert opinion,” which is essentially an affidavit in which a doctor swears he has reviewed the records and believes there are reasonable grounds to find that negligence did indeed occur;

5. This affidavit is attached to a “Notice of Intent to Initiate Litigation for Medical Negligence,” which is a document that contains the names of the prospective plaintiffs and defendants, and a summary of the claim and injury. This notice must be sent to each prospective defendant, and in some cases to state agencies. It is best to send this certified mail return receipt requested, or some other way that a signature acknowledging receipt is obtained. This will start the “90 day presuit investigative period”.

6. The 90-day “presuit investigative period” during which the parties exchange written questions, requests for documents and items, and take unsworn statements of the plaintiff and prospective defendant(s).

7. At the end of the 90 days the potential defendant generally rejects the claim (the prospective defendant(s) can also admit liability, offer to settle the case or offer to arbitrate or mediate the matter prior to the plaintiff filing the lawsuit, but that rarely happens).

After all of the above requirements have been complied with only then can a person injured by a Florida doctor or hospital file a lawsuit. As you can see it is a very complicated, time-consuming, and expensive process. This is one of the most important reasons why you should hire a lawyer that specializes in medical malpractice litigation.