Medical Malpractice Suit Yields $7.5 million for grieving family
A Miami, Florida, family has been awarded $7.5 million as part of a medical malpractice lawsuit settlement, according to a report in WSVN News.
Maria Elena Espinosa died following a surgery to remove a two-inch tumor on her skull. According to the lawsuit, the operating surgeons failed to properly evaluate Espinosa before she underwent the surgery.
The 45-year-old mother of two died in May 2009 following the failed surgery.
The surgeons, Drs. Basil M. Yates and Pedro Albanes, who are still practicing physicians, were found guilty of medical malpractice in the case and the jury found them to have been responsible for the 45-year-old’s death during the surgery.
The jury awarded the Espinosas $7.5 million as a result of the negligence finding on the part of the physicians. She died as a result of a failure to stem excessive bleeding, the family’s attorney told WSVN News. “There was never a way to control the bleeding due to the negligence of the surgeons,” Jorge Gutierrez, the family’s attorney, told WSVN News.
The doctors did not notice the excess of blood coming from under Espinosa’s head until it was already too late, the lawyer told WSVN News. A retroactive prognosis also revealed it would have been better to have Espinosa undergo radiation and chemotherapy, rather than a risky surgery, the lawyer said. Expert witnesses said the type of tumor that Espinosa had is very treatable with radiation and chemotherapy. But in this case, the doctors took her straight to surgery instead.
The doctors are expected to appeal the decision. WSVN News was unable to reach Basil and Albanes for comment on the settlement.
Medical Malpractice in Florida
In the tragic instances when a patient is injured or killed as a result of a health care provider’s negligence, it may be considered medical malpractice.
Under Florida law (766.203), negligence occurs when health care providers fail to provide a level of care, skill and treatment that is commonly considered acceptable and appropriate by peers.
The evidence you need to show in medical malpractice suits include:
- The injury was not within the reasonably foreseeable results of the procedure being performed by the health care provider;
- The actions that your health care providers took breached the commonly accepted standard of care; and
- That your injury or loved one’s death was caused because of this breach.
Common types of medical malpractice include failure to diagnose or misdiagnosis, surgical errors, prescription errors and nursing home accidents as a result of negligence.
Have your or loved ones been victim of medical malpractice?
If you or a loved one has been a victim of medical malpractice, contact experienced lawyers today to assess your options. You need to start mounting a case immediately to give yourselves the best chance possible to receive compensation. Reach out to the attorneys at Boone & Davis in Fort Lauderdale today.
