Practice Area
Medical negligence that causes catastrophic injury demands the most skilled, best-resourced legal team in Florida. Swope, Rodante P.A. has the expertise and financial resources to take on hospitals and their insurers.
Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider — a physician, surgeon, nurse, hospital, or other licensed professional — deviates from the accepted standard of care and that deviation causes harm to a patient. In Florida, medical malpractice is governed by Chapter 766 of the Florida Statutes, which imposes specific procedural requirements before a lawsuit can even be filed.
Not every bad medical outcome is malpractice. Medicine involves risk, and not every complication or unsuccessful treatment rises to the level of negligence. What matters is whether the provider's conduct fell below what a reasonably competent, similarly trained healthcare professional would have done under the same or similar circumstances.
To succeed in a Florida medical malpractice case, your attorney must prove each of the following four elements:
A doctor-patient relationship existed, creating a legal duty of care. This is typically established when a provider agrees to treat you.
The provider's conduct fell below the accepted standard of care — what a reasonably competent provider in the same specialty would have done.
The breach of the standard of care directly and proximately caused your injury or worsened your condition. This is often the most contested element.
You suffered measurable harm — physical injury, additional medical treatment, lost wages, pain and suffering, or loss of quality of life.
The standard of care is the benchmark against which a healthcare provider's conduct is measured. Florida law defines it as the care, skill, treatment, and diagnosis that a reasonably prudent, similarly trained healthcare provider would provide under the same or similar circumstances. The standard is national — it is not limited to what local practitioners do. Expert medical witnesses are essential to establish what the standard of care required and how the defendant deviated from it.
Swope, Rodante P.A. handles the full spectrum of complex medical malpractice claims in Tampa and throughout Florida, including:
Wrong-site surgery, retained surgical instruments, unnecessary procedures, nerve damage, and post-operative complications caused by negligent care.
Failure to diagnose cancer, heart attack, stroke, infection, or other serious conditions in time for effective treatment — allowing the disease to progress to a more serious stage.
Prescribing the wrong drug or dose, dangerous drug interactions, failure to account for known allergies, or dispensing errors by pharmacists.
Cerebral palsy, Erb's palsy, brachial plexus injuries, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (brain damage from oxygen deprivation), and other injuries caused by negligent obstetric or neonatal care.
Administering too much or too little anesthesia, failure to monitor vital signs, failure to review a patient's history for contraindications, and anesthesia awareness during surgery.
Understaffing, inadequate infection control leading to hospital-acquired infections, failure to follow proper protocols, negligent credentialing of physicians, and systemic institutional failures.
Failure to timely triage, premature discharge, missed diagnoses of heart attacks, strokes, appendicitis, pulmonary embolism, or spinal injuries in the emergency setting.
Failure to detect tumors or abnormalities on imaging studies, misreading diagnostic tests, and lab errors that lead to delayed or incorrect treatment.
Florida law imposes unique pre-suit requirements on medical malpractice claimants under Florida Statutes § 766.106. These procedures exist before a lawsuit can be filed and are strictly enforced. Failure to comply can result in dismissal of your case.
Before filing a Notice of Intent to initiate litigation, your attorney must conduct a reasonable investigation supported by the opinion of a medical expert who concludes that the claim is meritorious.
A written Notice of Intent to initiate litigation must be sent to each prospective defendant and their insurer, along with the corroborating medical expert opinion.
After the NOI is filed, each defendant has 90 days to investigate the claim. During this period, the statute of limitations is tolled. The parties exchange medical records and conduct informal discovery.
Either party may request pre-suit mediation, which provides an opportunity for early settlement before the expense of full litigation. If no resolution is reached, the claimant may file suit.
Under Florida Statutes § 95.11(4)(b), medical malpractice claims must be filed within 2 years from the date the claimant knew or should have known about the injury. An absolute maximum of 4 years applies from the date of the negligent act, regardless of when it was discovered — except in cases involving fraud, concealment, or intentional misrepresentation by the provider, in which case the limit extends to 7 years. Because the pre-suit process itself takes time, it is critical to consult an attorney as early as possible.
Medical malpractice cases cannot be won without qualified expert witnesses. Florida law requires that at least one expert — a physician in the same or similar specialty as the defendant — provide a sworn statement that the defendant's care deviated from the accepted standard of care and that the deviation caused the plaintiff's injury.
Swope, Rodante P.A. works with a network of nationally recognized medical experts across all specialties. Our experts are not just hired guns — they are credentialed physicians, surgeons, and specialists who testify credibly on the applicable standard of care and how it was violated.
Medical malpractice cases are among the most expensive civil claims to litigate. Expert witnesses alone can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Add depositions, trial exhibits, court costs, and the extensive medical record review required, and a complex case can cost $100,000 to $500,000 or more to bring to verdict.
Many law firms simply cannot afford to take on hospitals and large healthcare systems in protracted litigation. Swope, Rodante P.A. has the financial resources, the litigation infrastructure, and the experienced trial team to go the distance — whether that means settling on favorable terms or winning at trial.
We handle all medical malpractice cases on a contingency fee basis — meaning you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you. Our costs are advanced by the firm and only reimbursed from any recovery.
Largest Mild TBI Verdict
Attorney Elizabeth Zwibel co-counseled what was reported as the largest mild traumatic brain injury verdict in U.S. history at the time of the verdict.
Top 100 U.S. Verdicts
Two separate Swope, Rodante P.A. trial results have been ranked among the Top 100 verdicts in the United States.
If any of the following happened to you or a loved one, you should speak with a Florida medical malpractice attorney immediately:
Common questions about Florida medical malpractice claims.
Have more questions about your potential medical malpractice case?
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