The Cochran Firm Legal Blog

In 2003, a Florida man was rushed to the hospital after suffering a heart attack. He allegedly did not receive the medication he needed in the amount of time necessary to keep his heart from being irreversibly damaged. While he lived for a few more years, he was constantly drained of energy and unable to have any type of a quality life. He died at age 73 after complications from a heart transplant. According to his family's attorney, the man's heart actually died the day he suffered his heart attack.

The man's wife filed a medical malpractice suit and was awarded $10.3 million by a Florida jury. Unfortunately, the timing of her lawsuit, and her husband's heart attack, were politically poor. This is because her husband suffered his heart attack and she filed her lawsuit just after medical malpractice award caps were imposed by the Florida legislature. This meant that $10.3 million would be reduced to $781,000.

After $440,000 in medical bills, attorney fees, and experts used in the case, the plaintiff would get nothing.

The woman and her lawyer appealed this ruling and the appeals court agreed with them: The medical malpractice caps could not be imposed retroactively. This means that the woman and her teenage daughter are entitled to $9.5 million for pain and suffering caused by the death.

The attorney for the plaintiff said that this ruling will affect few other cases in Florida due to the four year statute of limitations on medical malpractice. But the appeals court made the right decision here.

Even if you have been told your award limit has been capped or are concerned about statutes of limitation, if you or a loved one has been injured and are, or were, involved in a medical malpractice suit, please contact the experienced medical malpractice attorneys at the Cochran Law Firm for a case consultation. We serve clients nationwide.

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