Recent Florida News

September 2024 Newsletter

Liability, workforce changes needed to reach rural New Mexico patients A recent policy report from Think New Mexico lays out an ambitious roadmap to tackle the state's health care workforce shortages, focused on improving access to care and reducing meritless...

‘Push Back Hard’: Liability Negotiation Critical When Contracting With AI Companies

As health care providers contract with artificial intelligence services, the management of liability and risk is a key concern to keep in mind, according to a presenter at the 2024 Association of Women in Rheumatology annual conference. “This is a highly...

The United States is experiencing a growing OB-GYN shortage. Here’s why.

The United States is facing a shortage of obstetrician-gynecologists that is only expected to worsen moving forward. There were about 50,800 OB-GYNs practicing in the U.S. in 2018, already too few to meet the country’s rising demand. Roughly 3,000 fewer OB-GYNs will...

Current Medical Liability Laws

Damage Caps	For physicians $500,000 cap on non-economic damages per claimant with any one physician not responsible for more than $500,000. For nonpractitioners, $750,000 cap on non-economic damages. The cap increases to $1 million in non-economic damages for physicians if the negligence resulted in death or a permanent vegetative state or if the court finds that a manifest injustice would occur unless the non-economic damages cap was increased because the non-economic harm sustained by the patient was particularly severe and the defendant’s negligence caused a catastrophic injury to the patient. (2003)
Joint Liability Reform	Yes. Defendants are responsible only for their proportionate share of negligence.
Collateral Source Reform	Yes, and the court must reduce damages by the amounts paid to the claimant from collateral sources. If a right of subrogation exists, there is no reduction in damages. Benefits received by the government sources are not considered collateral benefits.
Attorney Fees Limited	Patients receive 70% of the first $250,000 awarded and 90% of the remainder of the award. Attorneys will still get payment for court and witness expenses. (2004) Patients may waive contingency fee limits.
Periodic Payments Permitted	Yes, for future economic awards exceeding $250,000, the court must order periodic payments at the request of any party unless the court determines that manifest injustice would result to any party.