According to US World and News Reports each year, medical errors cause approximately 250,000 deaths. That makes medical errors the third leading cause of death in the United States, behind heart disease and cancer. Or another way to put it, five times more people die from medical errors than car accidents.

The Rothenburg Law Firm from Ocala, Florida handles all types of medical malpractice cases, wrongful death cases and personal injury cases. Our attorney, Steve Rothenburg, was raised in Florida, and has 25 years’ experience protecting the rights of his clients. He also holds a degree from the University of Florida and spent five years working as a medical prosecutor for what is now the Florida Department of Health. He is an expert!

Medical Mistakes:

Medical mistakes can come in many shapes or forms. A medical mistake can be something as simple as a prescription error, surgical error, a childbirth error or an anesthesia error. In 1999 the Institute of Medicine published the famous article "To Err Is Human." This report dropped a bombshell on the medical community by reporting that up to 98,000 people a year die because of mistakes in hospitals.

In 2010 the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services said that bad hospital care contributed to the deaths of 180,000 patients in Medicare alone in a given year. Yet, only a small percentage of these accidental deaths result in a medical malpractice case. Know your rights.

Prescription Errors:

A Mayo Clinic study showed that 7 out of 10 elderly Americans take at least one prescription drug. Sometimes we need prescription medications for daily maintenance, so we can keep our cholesterol or blood sugar levels in check. Other times we need prescription drugs to fight an infection. Sometimes we need multiple prescription drugs to help address multiple health concerns.

When medication errors occur, the pill that’s supposed to be doing good may instead do you harm.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, 1.3 million people are injured by medication errors each year in the United States.

Prescription errors can take many forms. It could be the doctor prescribing the wrong medication or dosage. It could be the nurse giving the wrong medication or dosage. It could be negligence in recognizing the side effects of certain medications. It could be that the drug given was tainted or defective.

Wrongful Death Cases:

If your loved one loses his or her life due to the wrongful conduct of someone else – whether it’s from a defective drug, nursing home neglect, nursing home abuse, medical malpractice, biomedical device failure, a drug interaction, or an item left behind following a surgery – it is considered a wrongful death.

In Florida, various laws allow survivors of people who suffer a wrongful death through medical malpractice to file civil lawsuits. However, proving fault in a medical malpractice case can be very difficult. Steve Rothenburg has more than 25 years of medical malpractice experience, can help you navigate this complex litigation.

Florida Statutes state that only a personal representative of the deceased person’s estate may file a wrongful death lawsuit. This may include the person’s spouse, children, parents, blood relatives who depended upon the deceased person for support, adoptive brothers or sisters or children born out of wedlock.