How Well Do You Know Your Doctor?
A recent article in the Florida Sun-Sentinel drew readers' attention to an extremely important tool offered by the state: An online database of information about doctors. The Florida Department of Health's Division of Medical Quality Assurance offers a searchable database providing disciplinary and background information on a wide variety of health practitioners, including professionals like pharmacists or midwives as well as a variety of conventional doctors' specialties. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation offers a different database allowing Floridians to search for lawsuit settlements or jury verdicts against a subset of licensed medical professionals (as well as attorneys).
Why should you bother? Well, as the Sun-Sentinel's article points out, more than an eighth (13.5%) of the doctors in South Florida have settled or lost a medical malpractice case, and 3.9% of Florida doctors overall have been disciplined by the state Board of Medicine. That's just a handful of Florida's more than 60,000 doctors -- but it's a handful that many people would like to avoid. This tool gives consumers a way to identify and avoid medical practitioners with a history of medical malpractice lawsuits, criminal convictions or disciplinary trouble. It's also a good way to look into the professional's education, which can affect some consumers' confidence.
This is especially important in light of the fact that Florida allows doctors to practice without any medical malpractice insurance at all, as long as they post a sign and promise to pay $250,000 in any lawsuit. As I posted in August, this has helped make South Florida the capital of uninsured doctors, with more than a third of the doctors in Miami-Dade going without insurance. Without malpractice insurance, these doctors usually won't be able to pay a legal judgment over the $250,000 limit, which leaves the patients they may hurt without any way to get the money they're legally entitled to, no matter how solid the case. Under those circumstances, it might be wise to do your homework on any new doctor.
As a Florida medical malpractice lawyer, I have seen far too many cases where medical malpractice drastically and permanently changed a client's life. An ounce of prevention in this case is easily worth a pound of cure. But if you believe you have already been hurt by a careless doctor and would like to know more about your rights under Florida law, I urge you to contact our firm, Cohn, Smith & Cohn, for a free consultation.
