What Makes Hospitals So Deadly in Florida?

Hospital Negligence in Medical Care

Over 240,000 people die in Florida's hospitals each year.

Not all are preventable, but many are the result of negligent medical care.

The state ranks among the top for negligence claims, with over 1,727 medical malpractice claims filed in Florida in 2024. ^[1]

Preventable incidents, including operations, procedures, or other actions that caused injuries, accounted for 8,136 adverse incidents.

Healthcare providers have a responsibility to provide a reasonable level of care for patients.

Negligent hospital care harms patients and their families and results in billions in medical malpractice settlement compensation to victims.

If you or a loved one was an injured victim of negligent medical care, we can help ensure your case gets the attention it deserves.

The experienced medical malpractice attorneys at Lawsuit Legal are ready to hear your story and will fight to get the maximum compensation for your claim.

 

Why Florida Hospitals Get So Many Medical Malpractice Claims

Florida hospitals face a high volume of medical malpractice claims due to a combination of systemic, regulatory, and demographic factors.

Florida hospitals and healthcare facilities face unique challenges that impact patient outcomes, contributing to a range of preventable and natural causes of death.

Here's an overview of the key reasons:

These contributing factors can disrupt continuity of care and increase the risk of miscommunication and errors that lead to injury and death. Overworked medical professionals and insufficient patient oversight increase this risk further. Florida's highly vulnerable patient populations, including the elderly and disabled, who are more prone to medical complications and have more complex medical needs, further contribute to an environment ripe for medical mistakes and negligent care. ^[2]

 

Understanding the common causes of low hospital survivability rates helps improve patient care outcomes for all hospitalized patients.

If you or a loved one has suffered due to medical negligence, don’t wait—contact us today for a free case evaluation and let our experienced medical malpractice lawyers fight to secure the justice and compensation you deserve.

Most Common Causes of Death in Hospital Settings

In hospital settings, the causes of death often stem from a combination of natural illnesses and preventable factors related to medical care. The majority of patients in our hospital system receive medical care from dedicated, well-intentioned, and compassionate doctors and nurses - but mistakes happen.

Hospital-acquired infections, medical errors, and adverse drug events play a significant role in Florida's high medical malpractice rates and reduce survivability.

Sepsis & Septic Shock

Sepsis kills more than 270,000 people in the U.S. each year and can leave survivors with severe complications and life-long disabilities. ^[3]

Septicemia is often entirely preventable and most commonly encountered in emergency room settings.

Sepsis is not actually an infection but rather an immune response to infection that passes into a dangerous stage and can be deadly. So much so that it is the third leading cause of death in the U.S.

It most frequently occurs at hospitals, health clinics, nursing homes, and surgical centers that have not been properly cleaning. Hospitals are legally required to take due precautions to prevent both sepsis and septic shock.

If you suffered sepsis injury caused by a medical practitioner's negligence, or the hospital failed to treat sepsis or septic shock properly, you should speak with our medical malpractice lawyer to review your legal options.

Hospital-Acquired Infections (HAIs)

An infection you acquire in a hospital may give rise to a hospital negligence claim if they fail to recognize or treat it in a timely manner. Serious infections can lead to the patient experiencing considerable pain and suffering and, in some cases, prove deadly. A preventable infection at the site of a surgical procedure can threaten the patient's life. The failure to recognize or treat an infection in a timely manner can have serious consequences for a patient.

Infections like pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and MRSA often develop in hospitalized patients, especially those with weakened immune systems or invasive devices like catheters or ventilators.

When negligence contributed to the hospital-acquired infection, you may be able to sue the hospital. Review the evidence with our medical malpractice attorneys to find out if you have a case.

Diagnosis Errors & Misdiagnosis

Diagnostic errors and misdiagnoses are a leading cause of medical malpractice claims in Florida. These errors occur when medical providers fail to identify a condition accurately or in a timely manner, leading to delayed or incorrect treatments that result in worsened outcomes, unnecessary procedures, or preventable deaths.

The potential for error in medicine is substantial, but medical mistakes can be a life-and-death matter, and a failure to diagnose conditions like cancer can be deadly. A mistaken diagnosis may constitute medical malpractice in Florida. Missed cancer diagnoses, misinterpreted imaging results, or failure to recognize symptoms of heart attacks or strokes can be life-changing.

If you or a loved one was a victim of a misdiagnosis that limited the treatment options, get a free legal consultation with our Florida malpractice attorneys to review the evidence. You may be eligible to file a failure to diagnose lawsuit.

Medical Errors & Mistakes

Doctors, hospitals, and nurses owe a duty of an acceptable level care to their patients. When sub-standard care causes injury to the patient the victims can seek to hold them responsible for the damages suffered.

Patients are injured by all types of medical errors, including those committed by doctors, specialists, nurses, surgeons, medical administrators, and more. In severe cases, these medical errors can be catastrophic for the patient or lead to loss of life. If you suffered injury during treatment, you may have a claim.

You have a right to pursue a medical malpractice lawsuit when mistakes under hospital care cause you to suffer harm and constitute malpractice under Florida law. A variety of actions and errors may constitute hospital negligence, review what happened with an experienced medical malpractice attorney to find out if you have a case.

Most Common Doctor Mistakes & Medical Errors

Hard Truth:  medical errors continue to be a leading cause of death...

• Prescribing the wrong medications, wrong dosages, or application times
• Errors in communicating a patient's needs or information to nurses and medical staff
• Surgical errors, including operating on the wrong body part, wrong procedure, wrong patient, or leaving medical instruments inside a patient
• Errors committed by doctors during pregnancy or delivery that lead to preventable birth injuries
• Errors in hospitals or emergency rooms where a formal doctor-patient relationship exists
• Errors in the administration of anesthesia
• Using outdated tests or treatments
• Failure to properly monitor patients
• Improper post-operative care, including failure to close and clean wounds