Can I sue a doctor or hospital in Broward County for a medical mistake?

What turns a bad medical outcome into a malpractice case?

Medicine carries risk, and many complications happen even when everyone does the job right. A case exists only when four pieces line up. The provider had a duty to care for you, which is true of any doctor, nurse, hospital, or clinic that treated you. The provider fell short of the standard of care, which Florida defines as the level of care a reasonably prudent provider in the same or a similar field would recognize as acceptable in the same situation (Fla. Stat. § 766.102(1)). That shortfall caused your injury, as opposed to the illness you already had. And you were actually harmed: more treatment, lost income, pain, a lasting loss.

The second and third pieces are proven with testimony from a medical expert who practices in the same or a similar specialty as the provider being sued. That is why a lawyer cannot tell you on the phone, with certainty, that you have a case. What Wolfson & Leon does instead is gather your complete chart, send it to a qualified expert for review, and tell you plainly what the expert found before anyone decides to go forward.

Why can't I just file a lawsuit at the Broward County Courthouse right away?

Because Florida puts a mandatory presuit process in front of every medical negligence case. Malpractice suits in Broward are filed in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit at the Broward County Courthouse on SE 6th Street, but before anything is filed there, the injured person has to complete these steps:

• A reasonable investigation of whether there are grounds to believe a provider was negligent and caused the injury.
• A verified written opinion from a qualified medical expert that reasonable grounds for the claim exist (Fla. Stat. § 766.203).
• A notice of intent to initiate litigation served on every prospective defendant.
• A 90-day waiting period during which the providers and their insurers investigate and must respond. The limitations clock is paused, or tolled, during those 90 days (Fla. Stat. § 766.106).

What happens during the 90 days, and why does it matter so much?

The providers named in the notice review the records, consult their own experts, and then respond. Some reject the claim; some make an offer. Some cases resolve in this window. Many do not, and the lawsuit is filed once the period ends.

The process is technical. A notice served on the wrong entity, an expert who does not meet Florida's qualifications, or a missing document can give the defense grounds to have an otherwise valid claim dismissed. It is also why medical negligence cases take longer to put together than a car crash claim, and why it is a mistake to wait until the deadline is close before calling.

How long do I have, and when does the clock start?

The general rule is two years, but the clock does not necessarily start on the day of the treatment. It starts when you discovered the injury, or when you reasonably should have discovered it. A patient told in March that a scan from the previous year showed a tumor nobody mentioned may be measuring from March, not from the date of the scan.

There is also an outer limit, called the statute of repose: no claim can be brought more than four years after the negligent act itself, whenever it was discovered. That four-year cap does not cut off a claim for a child before the child's eighth birthday, and if the provider hid the error through fraud or concealment, the outer limit can stretch to seven years (Fla. Stat. § 95.11). These dates interact with the presuit process in ways that are easy to get wrong, so treat any date you calculate yourself as a reason to call, not a reason to wait.

Where do malpractice cases come from in Broward?

From every corner of the health care system. Broward County is served by large hospitals such as Broward Health Medical Center on South Andrews Avenue, Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Holy Cross Health on the north side of Fort Lauderdale, Broward Health Imperial Point, Broward Health North, Memorial Hospital West, and Cleveland Clinic Florida in Weston, along with outpatient surgery centers, urgent care clinics, private practices, imaging centers, pharmacies, and nursing homes. A claim can arise at any of them, and the legal standard is the same whether the provider is a major hospital or a one-doctor office.

The errors that most often lead to claims include:

• Delayed or missed diagnosis of cancer, stroke, heart attack, sepsis, or another infection.
• Emergency room discharge of a patient who needed to be admitted or watched.
• Surgical errors, including operating on the wrong site and leaving an instrument or sponge inside the patient.
• Anesthesia mistakes and failure to monitor a patient during recovery.
• Medication errors by a prescriber, a nurse, or a pharmacy: the wrong drug, the wrong dose, or a dangerous combination.
• Birth injuries to a mother or a baby.

I was visiting Fort Lauderdale, or I only live here in the winter. Can I still bring a claim?

Yes. Tourists, cruise passengers, and seasonal residents are treated in Broward hospitals and urgent cares every day, and the Florida rules on this page apply to care given in Florida no matter where the patient lives. If you have gone home since the treatment, Wolfson & Leon can request the records, coordinate the expert review, and handle much of the case by phone and email. The two-year clock runs the same way for visitors, so distance is not a reason to wait.

My family member died after medical care. What is different about that case?

A death caused by medical negligence goes through the same presuit process, and it is brought as a wrongful death claim under Florida's Wrongful Death Act. One rule surprises many families: when the death resulted from medical negligence, adult children age 25 or older cannot recover damages for their own pain and suffering, and neither can the parents of an adult child who died (Fla. Stat. § 768.21(8)). A surviving spouse and minor children can still recover those damages, and the estate can still recover medical and funeral expenses and lost support. Wolfson & Leon will explain on the first call, honestly, how this rule applies to your family before you decide anything.

What can a malpractice claim pay for?

The damages fall into two groups. Economic damages cover the money the injury costs you: the medical care you have already needed and will need in the future, the income you lost and will lose, and the cost of help at home or other care the injury makes necessary. Non-economic damages compensate for the pain, the suffering, and the parts of life you can no longer enjoy the way you did.

For personal injury malpractice cases, the statutory caps Florida once placed on non-economic damages are gone; the Florida Supreme Court struck them down in 2017 in North Broward Hospital District v. Kalitan. Two situations still carry special limits. A claim against a government-run hospital is subject to sovereign immunity limits, so one of the first things the firm checks is whether the provider is public or private. And a death claim is governed by the restrictions in Fla. Stat. § 768.21(8).

Malpractice cases are expensive to bring because of the expert review and the mandatory presuit process. Wolfson & Leon looks honestly at whether the likely recovery justifies that cost before recommending that you move forward, and tells you if it does not.

What missteps can cost you a malpractice claim?

• Waiting to see if it gets better. The two-year clock runs from discovery, and the presuit process alone takes months. A late start can leave no room to finish it.
• Confronting the doctor or the hospital, or signing a form they hand you, before you have spoken with a lawyer.
• Putting off a records request. Ask for the complete chart early under Fla. Stat. § 456.057, before details are lost or entries are added after the fact.
• Throwing away discharge papers, pill bottles, or appointment cards. Small documents often fix the dates that matter.
• Treating every complication as malpractice, or none of them. Only an expert review separates a known risk from a breach of the standard of care.
• Stopping treatment. Follow-up care with another provider protects your health and documents the injury.