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Florida's High Court To Hear Malpractice Suit Case

March 22, 2006

The Florida Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that would determine whether hospitals should be held financially liable for their staff doctors' medical mistakes if the doctor doesn't carry malpractice insurance.

The case hinges on a 2004 ruling by the 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach, which found that a Broward County circuit judge was wrong to order Plantation General Hospital to pay a $250,000 judgment after one of its uninsured staff physicians fled the country, failing to pay an $859,000 malpractice verdict against him.

Because that ruling conflicts with rulings by other Florida appellate courts, the state's highest court agreed to hear arguments to ensure that hospitals across the state play by uniform rules, said Mark Purdy, the Fort Lauderdale attorney who filed the original malpractice case as well as the appeals.

Under current law, hospitals within the jurisdiction of the appeals court, which includes Broward, Palm Beach, St. Lucie, Martin, Indian River and Okeechobee counties, could not be held financially responsible for such uninsured doctors, while hospitals in most of the rest of Florida would be.

About one-third of Florida physicians do not have medical malpractice insurance.

According to Kenneth Sobel, a Fort Lauderdale attorney who represents a Boynton Beach woman who has sued her neurologist, hospitals have to bear some responsibility when the doctors they invite on their property are financially irresponsible.

The suit claims that the woman has extensive neck injuries due to her neurologist's negligence. The doctor who performed the surgery also does not have malpractice insurance. As a result, Sobel also has gone after the hospital where the operation was performed.

Florida physicians do not have to carry malpractice insurance. However, they must, by law, demonstrate an ability to pay at least $100,000 per claim and at least $300,000 in total annual claims.

The stakes go up to $250,000 per claim and $750,000 per year for doctors with hospital privileges or those who perform surgery at ambulatory surgical centers.