Medical errors are alarmingly common in the United States – in fact, research from Johns Hopkins suggests that preventable medical mistakes may be the third-leading cause of death nationwide. An estimated 250,000 or more Americans die each year due to medical errors, ranking behind only heart disease and cancer. These mistakes range from misdiagnosis and surgical errors to medication mix-ups, and they can have devastating consequences for patients and families.
It’s important to note, however, that not every bad outcome in healthcare is considered medical malpractice. Some procedures carry inherent risks, and complications can occur even when doctors follow the standard of care. Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider’s negligence – a failure to meet the appropriate standard of care – directly causes an injury or death to a patient.
In this article, we will explore clear examples of medical malpractice versus acceptable complications, helping you understand the difference between medical malpractice and unavoidable outcomes. We’ll also highlight common medical negligence cases with real-world examples, explain patients’ legal rights in states like Florida and Ohio, and discuss what it takes to pursue a medical malpractice claim. If you suspect you or a loved one has been a victim of medical malpractice, this information will empower you to take legal action.
Understanding Medical Malpractice vs. Medical Negligence
Medical malpractice and medical negligence are closely related terms that often confuse patients. In essence, a medical malpractice case involves negligence by a medical professional. Negligence means a provider failed to act with the care that a reasonably prudent practitioner would have used under similar circumstances.
In legal terms, four key elements must be proven for a valid medical malpractice lawsuit:
- Duty – the healthcare provider owed a duty of care to the patient
- Breach of duty – the medical provider breached that duty by deviating from the accepted standard of care
- Causation – that breach directly caused injury to the patient
- Damages – the patient suffered actual harm as a result of medical negligence
All four elements are required – if any one is missing, a bad outcome may not legally constitute medical negligence.
Standard of care is a critical concept in medical malpractice law. It refers to the level and type of care that a reasonably competent and skilled health professional, with a similar background and in the same medical community, would have provided under the circumstances. A poor outcome does not automatically equal negligence and malpractice – the question is whether the doctor acted appropriately.
For example, if a surgeon follows all proper protocols yet a known complication occurs, that’s usually not a case of medical malpractice. On the other hand, if a doctor fails to meet the standard that most peers would (such as ignoring obvious infection signs or misreading a clear test result), and the patient suffers harm to the patient, that negligent medical care can lead to a lawsuit.
Florida and Ohio Legal Standards
Both Florida and Ohio require plaintiffs to prove that a care provider’s negligence fell below the accepted standard and negligence resulted in injury. Florida statutes explicitly state that a claimant must show the provider’s conduct “represented a breach of the standard of care” for that type of healthcare provider.
In Florida’s medical malpractice law, the term “medical negligence” is essentially synonymous with malpractice, defined as a medical provider’s failure to establish the standard of care reasonably expected of similar healthcare professionals. Ohio law similarly requires proof that the physician or hospital failed to meet the recognized standard, resulting in harm.
Understanding this distinction is important because malpractice claims have special pre-suit steps, shorter filing deadlines, and other hurdles that general injury cases do not. The bottom line: Medical malpractice and negligence mean a provider was negligent – they breached their duty according to medical standards – and that negligence caused injury.
Diagnostic Errors – Common Examples of Medical Malpractice
One of the most prevalent types of medical malpractice is the diagnostic error. This category includes:
- Misdiagnosis – diagnosing the wrong medical condition in a timely manner
- Delayed diagnosis – eventually finding the correct diagnosis, but later than one reasonably should have
- Failure to diagnose – entirely missing the condition
Studies have found that diagnostic mistakes are a leading cause of serious patient harm. A 2023 analysis estimates that across U.S. healthcare settings, roughly 795,000 Americans suffer permanent disability or wrongful death each year due to medical negligence in diagnosis. This includes an estimated 371,000 deaths annually caused by missed or delayed diagnoses – a staggering toll that underscores how critical timely and accurate diagnosis is for patient safety.
The “Big Three” Diseases
Stroke Misdiagnosis: Strokes are unfortunately often missed – one study found stroke was misdiagnosed in 17.5% of cases initially, frequently being mistaken for less serious issues. Missing a stroke can leave a patient with permanent disability or worse.
Cancer Diagnosis Failures: Failing to detect cancer in a timely manner (e.g., a radiologist overlooks a tumor on an X-ray) might allow the cancer to advance to an untreatable stage. A physician might brush off a patient’s symptoms and a lump that turns out to be malignant, resulting in lost treatment time and potential wrongful death.
Heart Attack Misdiagnosis: Consider a patient in an ER with classic heart attack symptoms who is misdiagnosed with acid reflux and sent home – if that patient later has a cardiac arrest, it could be a malpractice suit because any competent doctor should have recognized the heart attack signs and run appropriate tests.
Infection Diagnosis Delays: Perhaps a fever and pain are not properly worked up, leading to undiagnosed sepsis that becomes life-threatening.
To put numbers in perspective, missed/delayed diagnoses make up roughly 21–22% of all medical malpractice claims in the United States, and the majority of those cases involve the most severe patient harm (serious injury or death). Data show that about 12 million patients in the U.S. each year experience some form of diagnostic error, and around one-third of those errors cause serious injury.
Surgical Errors and Operating Room Medical Malpractice
Surgical settings are another area where vivid examples of medical malpractice occur. Surgical errors can be dramatic “never events” – mistakes so egregious they should never happen – or more subtle lapses in technique that cause harm.
Wrong-Site and Wrong-Patient Surgery
Some of the most startling medical negligence cases include operating on the wrong body part or even the wrong patient. In 2023 alone, U.S. hospitals voluntarily reported at least 112 cases of “wrong surgery” events to The Joint Commission. These errors constitute medical negligence often due to communication failures or not following the required pre-surgical verification protocols.
A famous example involved a neurosurgeon who operated on the wrong side of a patient’s brain – a clear breach of duty that resulted in a large medical malpractice settlement. Wrong-site surgery (operating on, say, the left knee instead of the right) and wrong-patient surgery are thankfully rare, but they do happen and are automatically considered medical malpractice because there is no excuse for such errors.
Retained Surgical Items
Another notorious surgical error is when something gets left inside the patient. These are called retained surgical items (RSIs). A comprehensive investigation found that, on average, a surgical object is left inside a patient at least once per day in malpractice in the United States. Over a decade, thousands of such cases were reported in state medical records.
One recent study estimated that RSIs occur in about 1 out of every 5,000 surgeries, which would be roughly 1,500 cases per year nationally. The harm from retained objects can be severe: patients may develop infections, intense pain, organ damage, and typically they require future medical surgery to remove the item. In worst cases, retained items have led to wrongful death.
Anesthesia Errors
Anesthesiologists have a critical role and examples of medical negligence include:
- Giving too much anesthesia (causing overdose or cardiac arrest)
- Too little anesthesia (causing patient awareness during surgery)
- Failing to monitor oxygen (leading to brain damage)
- Not checking for drug allergies/interactions
While modern anesthesia is very safe, errors still occur if an anesthesiologist’s act or omission is careless – for instance, not noticing that an intubation tube became dislodged, depriving the patient of oxygen. Such mistakes can cause permanent brain damage or death.
Other Surgical Medical Malpractice
Other scenarios include wrong procedures (operating on the correct site but doing the incorrect procedure), performing a surgery not indicated, or technical errors during the surgery like a surgeon negligently cutting an artery or damaging adjacent organs due to lack of care.
Post-operative care failures can also rise to medical malpractice: if nursing staff neglect to monitor a patient after surgery, missing signs of internal bleeding or infection, the facility could be held liable.
Medication Errors and Prescription Medical Negligence
Medication errors are another widespread and dangerous form of medical negligence. These errors can occur at multiple points – when a doctor prescribes a drug, when a pharmacist dispenses it, or when a nurse or provider administers the medication.
According to patient safety research, preventable medication errors injure at least 1.3 million Americans each year, and over 7,000 deaths result from these drug mistakes. These figures include errors in hospitals, long-term care facilities, and outpatient settings.
Common Medication Error Examples
Wrong Medication or Dose: A doctor writes the wrong medication or dose on a prescription, perhaps confusing drugs with similar names. A famous medical malpractice case involved a child given a tenfold overdose of a drug because a decimal point was misplaced on the order.
Pharmacy Errors: A pharmacist misreads or mislabels a prescription, or a nurse gives a medication to the wrong patient – clear negligent medical practice.
Dosage Calculations: Pediatric patients are especially vulnerable to dosing mistakes, as their doses must be carefully calculated by weight. Other examples are failing to adjust a dosage for a patient’s kidney function (leading to toxicity).
Allergy and Interaction Failures: Giving a patient penicillin despite a documented penicillin allergy, or prescribing a medication that has a harmful interaction with another drug the patient takes without noticing the conflict.
Technology Override Errors: A case in point: nurses in a Tennessee hospital in 2017 gave a patient a dangerous paralytic medication instead of a mild sedative due to an override of an electronic dispensing cabinet – a fatal mistake that became a high-profile legal case.
From a medical and legal perspective, medication errors often involve multiple parties who may share medical malpractice liability – the prescribing doctor, the pharmacy, the nurse, and the healthcare institution’s policies might all be scrutinized in litigation.
Birth Injuries and Obstetric Medical Malpractice
Few things are more tragic than a newborn or mother suffering preventable harm during what should be a joyous occasion. Birth injuries refer to injuries to the baby or sometimes to the mother that occur during labor and delivery.
According to statistics, about 7 in every 1,000 U.S. births involve a birth injury to the baby. That translates to roughly 30,000 infants each year. Moreover, complications around the time of birth are a leading cause of infant mortality in the United States.
Common Types of Birth Injuries Caused by Medical Negligence
Failure to Monitor Fetal Distress: Obstetric teams are expected to monitor the baby’s heart rate and the mother’s status closely during labor. If a baby shows signs of oxygen deprivation and the team fails to act (e.g., by performing an emergency C-section), the baby can suffer brain damage. A classic claim of medical malpractice scenario is when nurses and doctors miss or ignore fetal monitor strips showing the baby in trouble.
Delayed or Unnecessary C-sections: There’s a standard of care for when a Cesarean section is indicated. Not performing a timely C-section can be negligent if the baby or mother is suffering in prolonged labor. Conversely, performing interventions without medical need exposes patients to risk.
Improper Use of Delivery Instruments: Tools like forceps and vacuum extractors must be used with great care. Misuse causes an injury – excessive force with forceps can cause skull fractures or intracranial hemorrhage, and improper vacuum use can cause brain bleeding or scalp injuries.
Brachial Plexus Injuries: A specific injury, brachial plexus injury (like Erb’s palsy), often occurs when a baby’s shoulder gets stuck (shoulder dystocia) and the doctor pulls too hard on the baby’s head – this can permanently damage the nerves that control the arm.
Medication Errors: An example is improper administration of oxytocin (Pitocin) to induce or augment labor. Too high a dose can cause excessively strong contractions, reducing blood flow to the baby and leading to distress or uterine rupture.
Failure to Diagnose Maternal Conditions: Not diagnosing preeclampsia (dangerously high blood pressure in pregnancy) can lead to the mother having seizures or a stroke. Not recognizing a maternal infection or failing to detect a placental issue can lead to emergency situations with high risk.
The consequences of birth-related medical malpractice are profound and often lifelong. A child who suffers a preventable brain injury may face permanent disabilities, requiring a lifetime of medical care, therapy, and support. More than 60% of OB-GYNs have been sued at least once in their careers, reflecting both the high stakes and the frequency of complications.
Hospital Negligence and Systemic Failures
Not all medical negligence is attributable to a single doctor or nurse. Sometimes the hospital system itself fails patients through poor policies, understaffing, or communication breakdowns.
Inadequate Staffing
If a hospital doesn’t have enough nurses on a floor or enough doctors on call, patient care can suffer. Research has consistently shown a link between low nurse staffing levels and worse patient outcomes. When nurses have to care for an excessive number of patients, negligence may occur when they miss important changes in a patient’s condition.
In one study, each additional patient added to a nurse’s workload raised the likelihood of patient death in surgical units by 7%. From a legal perspective, if a hospital’s decision to understaff led to an injury, the hospital can be deemed negligent in its staffing.
Hospital-Acquired Infections
These include infections like surgical site infections, central line bloodstream infections, catheter-associated UTIs, and others that patients contract during their hospital stay. On any given day, about 1 in 31 hospital patients has at least one healthcare-associated infection. The CDC estimated that in U.S. acute-care hospitals, there were about 687,000 HAIs in patients, and roughly 72,000 patients with HAIs died during their hospitalization.
If a hospital has poor infection control and a patient suffers a serious infection as a result, there could be grounds for a medical negligence lawsuit. Examples include a patient developing sepsis from a MRSA infection after surgery because the operating room instruments were not sterile, or an outbreak of fungal infections because a hospital’s HVAC system was mold-contaminated due to ignored maintenance.
Communication Breakdowns
Failures in communication are one of the leading root causes of serious patient harm incidents every year. This can include poor hand-off communication between shifts or departments, not communicating test results in a timely way, or nurses not feeling empowered to speak up to doctors.
For instance, if a radiologist notes a suspicious finding on a scan but that result is never communicated to the treating physician, the patient might never get needed treatment – a systemic failure to meet the standard of care.
Emergency Room Medical Malpractice
Overcrowded, understaffed ERs can lead to triage errors or long delays in treatment. A common scenario is a patient in the ER waiting room who deteriorates because they weren’t triaged correctly (e.g., a patient with chest pain left in the lobby who actually was having a heart attack).
Proving Medical Malpractice
If you believe you have a medical malpractice case, knowing something went wrong is only the beginning. The legal process for a medical malpractice action is complex and evidence-intensive. Malpractice lawyers can help you understand whether medical negligence occurred and guide you through the process.
Medical Records and Evidence
Your medical records are the foundation of any medical malpractice case. These records – hospital charts, doctor’s notes, medication logs, lab results, imaging studies – document exactly what was done and when. By law (HIPAA and state laws), patients have a right to their medical records. These records will be reviewed by medical experts to identify where the standard of care may have been breached.
Expert Witnesses
All viable medical negligence claims require medical expert testimony. You need one or more qualified experts (typically other medical practitioners in the same medical field) to testify that the care you received fell below the accepted standard and that this negligence caused your injury.
Florida and Ohio law both make expert review mandatory from the outset of a case. In Florida, before a lawsuit is even filed, the law requires the claimant to conduct a presuit investigation and obtain a verified written medical expert opinion supporting the claim.
Ohio requires that when you file the lawsuit, you attach an Affidavit of Merit from a qualified medical expert for each defendant. This affidavit must certify that the expert has reviewed the medical records and believes that the defendant breached the standard of care and caused harm.
Statute of Limitations (Time Limits)
Medical malpractice claims must be filed within strict time frames. Missing the deadline almost always means your claim is barred forever. Medical malpractice attorneys recommend acting quickly to preserve your legal rights.
Florida: The statute of limitations for medical malpractice is 2 years from the time the incident occurred, or within 2 years from the time it was discovered. However, Florida also has a statute of repose: an absolute deadline of 4 years from the date of the malpractice, regardless of when you discovered it.
Ohio: The statute of limitations is generally even shorter: only 1 year from when the cause of action “accrues.” Ohio also has a helpful provision: if a patient notifies a prospective defendant in writing that they are considering bringing a malpractice claim (within the original 1-year period), it gives an automatic 180-day extension beyond the 1-year limit.
Types of Damages
Economic Damages: Cover tangible financial costs like medical bills (past and future medical expenses), rehabilitation, nursing care, lost wages, and loss of earning capacity.
Non-Economic Damages: Compensate for intangibles like pain, suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, disability, and scarring.
Florida: The Florida Supreme Court struck down caps on non-economic damages as unconstitutional in 2017. There is no statutory cap on pain-and-suffering damages in malpractice cases.
Ohio: Caps do exist. Ohio law generally caps non-economic damages to $250,000 or 3 times the economic damages (whichever is greater), up to an absolute maximum of $350,000 per plaintiff. For “catastrophic” injuries, the cap is higher: $500,000 per plaintiff and $1 million per occurrence.
The Litigation Process
Most medical malpractice cases settle before trial – estimates vary, but perhaps 90% are resolved via settlement. Settlement can occur at any stage: during pre-suit negotiations, during discovery, or even on the courthouse steps. Case results vary widely depending on the severity of injuries and strength of evidence.
If a case does go to trial, the plaintiff bears the burden of proof, and a jury will decide if the four elements are met and what damages are awarded. Trials can be complex, with medical jargon and dueling experts. The American Medical Association reports that medical practitioners often carry malpractice insurance to protect against such claims.
Conclusion
Medicine is not an exact science, and not every bad outcome is anyone’s fault. However, as we’ve detailed with the examples above, medical malpractice is a real and unfortunately common occurrence in dealing with medical care – and it is often preventable. By some estimates, medical errors kill more Americans each year than accidents or respiratory disease, making it a leading cause of death.
For patients and families, recognizing malpractice vs unavoidable complications is critical. If you’re unsure, it costs nothing to seek a professional legal opinion from a medical malpractice lawyer. Both Florida and Ohio provide strong patient-rights laws that allow victims of medical malpractice to seek justice and compensation.
However, these cases are subject to strict time limits (as short as one year in Ohio) and procedural hurdles like expert affidavit requirements – so acting promptly is in your best interest. Successful medical malpractice settlement cases not only provide financial recovery to help with medical expenses, lost income, and the human suffering caused, but they also hold healthcare providers and institutions accountable.
If you or a loved one has been harmed by substandard medical care that failure to meet the standard expected, don’t remain silent. You have the right to ask questions and get answers. The law recognizes that while doctors and nurses are human and can make mistakes, patients should not bear the cost of preventable errors.
Time is of the essence, however, due to the statute of limitations and the need to preserve evidence. The sooner you consult an attorney experienced in medical negligence, the sooner they can begin a thorough investigation to determine if you have a valid claim. Many states, including Ohio, maintain United States District Court procedures for complex medical malpractice cases.
The Podor Law Firm prides itself on compassionate, thorough representation of malpractice victims. We have a network of respected medical experts and a deep understanding of Florida and Ohio malpractice laws to build the strongest case possible. Remember, you are not alone – many have walked this road and obtained justice and financial relief.
If you even suspect that a healthcare provider’s error caused you serious harm, reach out for a free case evaluation. We will listen to your story, answer your questions, and advise you on the next steps to litigate your case if appropriate. There are strict deadlines and complex requirements in these cases, so don’t wait until it’s too late.
Sources
- STAT News – Medical errors are third-leading cause of death in the US: https://www.statnews.com/2016/05/03/medical-errors-death/
- StatPearls – Medical Error Reduction and Prevention: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK499956/
- Johns Hopkins Medicine – Diagnostic Error Public Health Impact: https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/newsroom/news-releases/2023/07/report-highlights-public-health-impact-of-serious-harms-from-diagnostic-error-in-us
- AHRQ Patient Safety Network – Diagnostic Error: https://psnet.ahrq.gov/curated-library/diagnostic-error
- The Joint Commission – Sentinel Event Data 2023 Annual Review: https://www.jointcommission.org/-/media/tjc/documents/resources/patient-safety-topics/sentinel-event/2024/2024_sentinel-event-_annual-review_published-2024.pdf
- Times Union – Surgeons continue to mistakenly leave objects in thousands of patients: https://www.timesunion.com/projects/2025/hospitals-surgical-objects-patients/
- PMC – Consumer medication management and error: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2748978/
- Cerebral Palsy Guide – Birth Injury Statistics: https://www.cerebralpalsyguide.com/birth-injury/statistics/
- AHRQ PSNet – Patient Safety Amid Nursing Workforce Challenges: https://psnet.ahrq.gov/perspective/patient-safety-amid-nursing-workforce-challenges
- CDC – Healthcare-Associated Infections Data: https://www.cdc.gov/healthcare-associated-infections/php/data/index.html
- Florida Bar – Judicial Interpretations of Presuit: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/judicial-interpretations-of-presuit-how-to-avoid-pitfalls-of-bringing-or-defending-a-claim-for-medi/
- National Conference of State Legislatures – Medical Liability Merit Affidavits: https://www.ncsl.org/financial-services/medical-liability-malpractice-merit-affidavits-and-expert-witnesses
- Florida Senate – Chapter 95 Section 11 Statute of Limitations: https://www.flsenate.gov/laws/statutes/2022/95.11
- Ohio Revised Code – Section 2305.113: https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/section-2305.113
- Florida Bar – Court rules med mal caps unconstitutional: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-news/court-rules-med-mal-caps-unconstitutional/
- Ryan LLP – Damages in an Ohio Medical Malpractice Claim: https://ryanllp.com/damages-in-an-ohio-medical-malpractice-claim/
