Medical Malpractice

A 2003 law that dismayed Orlando personal injury lawyer James O. Cunningham and other attorneys throughout Florida may be headed for review before the state Supreme Court. That year, lawmakers passed legislation effectively capping the amount of pain-and-suffering damages that could be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits at $1 million. Professional organizations such as the American Bar Association, the AARP and the Florida Justice Association have filed briefs recently supporting the challenge to the controversial $1 million pain-and-suffering cap and question the constitutionality of the law.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi and medical groups have announced that they plan to file briefs of their own, defending the law. They argue that the cap helps hold down medical malpractice insurance premiums for doctors and helps Florida retain good physicians. Opposition to the damage cap gained ground from a 2006 case involving a 20-year-old woman who died shortly after giving birth at Fort Walton Beach Medical Center. The woman, identified as an Air Force “dependent,” was treated by Air Force doctors for a serious condition known as preeclampsia after delivering a child. The woman’s family sued the federal government, and a court ruled that they should receive $3 million in damages, including $2 million for pain and suffering. However, the judge reduced those damages to $1 million, citing Florida’s medical malpractice cap law.

Earlier this year, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the cap does not violate the U.S. Constitution but recommended that the Florida Supreme Court examine the issue under the provisions of the state constitution. This recommendation led to the flurry of recent briefs from both sides about the case. An attorney for the woman’s family issued his own brief recently. He said:

"Even if this Court accepts at face value the dubious notion that limiting jury awards in medical malpractice cases will significantly reduce doctors’ liability premiums and ensure the availability of quality medical care for all Floridians, it is manifestly arbitrary and unfair to impose the cost of this public benefit on the relatively few most seriously harmed victims of medical malpractice."

Orlando personal injury attorney James O. Cunningham strongly agrees with this position and has said so on numerous occasions since legislators passed the 2003 law. He is a passionate and vociferous advocate for medical malpractice victims’ rights and believes the cap weakens our state’s ability to penalize negligent doctors. If you or someone in your family believes that you are a victim of medical malpractice and you have questions about this and other Florida laws, please contact Mr. Cunningham today at 888-425-2004 or 407-425-2000 to schedule a free consultation.

A new study has found that overdoses of prescription painkillers now kill more people in the U.S. each year than auto accidents do, and they have become the leader in preventable deaths in this country. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fatal overdoses from prescription medication more than tripled to 13,800 from 1999 to 2006 in the U.S. Recent data suggest that overdoses have nearly tripled again since 2006, with at least 37,485 people killed in 2009 from taking powerful painkillers such as OxyContin, Xanax, Vicodin and others. James O. Cunningham and other Orlando personal injury attorneys are especially concerned that our state is now being called the “epicenter” of this abuse. Recently, Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has indicted dozens of physicians and operators of clinics for unnecessarily prescribing these potentially lethal drugs.

Since 2001, there have been at least 37 criminal cases against doctors for medical negligence, with the vast majority of these cases involving the over-prescription of painkillers, according to Reuters, the international media outlet. However, their estimation of the scope of the problem differs sharply from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) figures, which indicate that 43 doctors were arrested for over-prescribing painkillers in 2008 alone. The DEA reports that 28 of its 226 successful convictions of doctors for over-prescribing drugs since 2003 occurred in Florida, around 12 percent of all convictions in the U.S.

Bondi has led a strike force to address the problem, and state lawmakers have responded to the challenge by recently passing a law that prevents doctors from writing prescriptions at clinics. However, critics of the new law – many of them Florida doctors – say that DEA agents are pursuing doctors because they are easier targets. They say that a very small number of irresponsible physicians are making it difficult for doctors to help patients who experience chronic pain and need the painkillers to manage it.

Regardless of which side of this argument you may be on, it is clear that our state has a serious prescription drug abuse problem and that some negligent doctors are part of the problem. If a close family member has become addicted to painkillers or has died due to an overdose, you may be entitled to seek damages in a medical negligence lawsuit. If you have questions about the law or your legal options and would like to speak with an experienced Orlando personal injury lawyer, call James O. Cunningham today at 888-425-2004 or 407-425-2000 to schedule a free consultation.

In a move that Orlando personal injury attorney James O. Cunningham fully supports, Florida Governor Rick Scott signed a law recently that will make it more difficult for doctors to write prescriptions for painkillers. For years, Florida has been known as a “pill mill,” a place where it has been easy for people to get prescription painkillers such as Oxycontin, Oxycodone and other pharmaceuticals that often lead to drug abuse. The ease with which people could obtain these drugs in our state caused people from nearby states with more restrictive access to these drugs to come here for prescriptions.
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In a move that disappointed many Orlando personal injury lawyers, a federal appeals court in Atlanta has upheld the constitutionality of a Florida law that caps damages that victims can receive in medical malpractice cases. A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals made their ruling recently and issued a statement that the Florida law “passes muster” of the U.S. Constitution and Florida Constitution. Their ruling came after the family of a Florida woman named Michelle McCall claimed medical malpractice was responsible for her death after childbirth in 2006. They filed a lawsuit against a doctor they claimed was negligent.
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A dentist has opened a new practice in Polk City despite his recent release after serving three years in a federal penitentiary for tax fraud. An investigation by Health News Florida found that the man has a valid Florida dental license after failing to pay more than two million dollars in tax fraud penalties. Orlando personal injury attorney James O. Cunningham warns Floridians that our state still does not provide adequate protection against unethical healthcare providers who move to Florida to continue practicing medicine. Even though the dentist in question was convicted for tax fraud, not dental malpractice, it is indicative of the lax background checks state agencies conduct before granting licenses.
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Millions of Floridians take prescription medication to reduce the effects of countless medical conditions. Pharmaceutical companies spend billions in marketing this or that drug in magazines, television, billboards and other outlets telling consumers how effective the drug is at alleviating a wide range of symptoms. But a glance at the front page of any newspaper will tell you that these prescriptions are not always safe. This Orlando Sentinel article sheds light on how dangerous some of these drugs can be.
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