Medical malpractice in Florida
Last checked Aug 15, 2026 · LawyerUnc editorial. Educational only, not legal advice.
Elements
1
Provider-patient relationship
The defendant undertook to treat the patient.
2
Standard of care
What a reasonably careful similar provider would have done under similar circumstances.
3
Breach
The care fell below that standard.
4
Causation and injury
The breach more likely than not caused a compensable injury, not merely a bad outcome.
Burden of proof
Preponderance of the evidence, usually with expert testimony on the standard of care.
A Florida fact pattern
A Lee County hospital discharges a patient with chest pain after a normal troponin, but never orders a second set or an ECG over-read. He infarcts in the parking lot. Florida requires presuit notice and a corroborating expert opinion before a suit is filed. A bad outcome is not enough; the question is whether a reasonably careful ER physician would have held him.
Statute of limitations
2 years
Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(c)
From when the incident was discovered or should have been discovered with due diligence.
Repose: 4 years.
- Four-year statute of repose, with limited fraud/concealment extensions.
- Presuit notice under ch. 766 pauses the clock in defined ways.