Florida Legislature Protects Private Hospitals

As lawyers practicing personal injury and medical malpractice law in the State of Florida, we continue to be amazed by the ongoing erosion of the rights of Floridians who are injured due to the negligence of doctors and nurses. The legislature just passed a law which will provide sovereign immunity protection to all doctors and nurses working in private hospitals which are deemed to be teaching hospitals affiliated with medical schools.

This means that victims of medical malpractice by doctors at Jackson Memorial in Miami, Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Shands Healthcare at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Shands Jacksonville Medical Center, Orlando Health in Orlando, and Tampa General Hospital, will no longer be personally liable for their negligence. Injured victims will be limited in their recovery to a maximum of $200,000.00, regardless of how devastating their injuries are, or the amount their future medical bills.

When you elect representatives whose self-interest is helping business, at the expense of individuals, unfortunately, this is what you can continue to expect. We can only hope that those victimized by the doctors working at these newly protected hospitals will remember who caused their rights to be lost when its time to vote.