Automobile Negligence Cases Legal Negligence Cases Medical Malpractice Cases Professional Malpractice Cases Personal Injury Cases Wrongful Death Cases

The firm of Kelaher Law Offices, P.A. specializes solely in plaintiff's person injury law, representing individuals injured or who have suffered damages as a result of the negligence of others. James Kelaher exclusively handles cases pertaining to automobile negligence, medical, legal, and other professional malpractice cases as listed in detail below:

Medical Malpractice Cases
Jim Kelaher and his staff have been handling medical malpractice cases for over seventeen years, and have lived through all the changes in the laws which hold physicians and hospitals accountable for their negligence. Since the Florida Medical Association and the various hospitals around the state have very powerful lobbying means, the law has continued to evolve in a manner most favorable for health care providers. Our office has made every effort to continue to pursue negligent physicians and nurses despite these changes.

Many people believe they have been wronged by a physician or hospital because they receive a poor result from treatment or surgery. Unfortunately, a poor result cannot be used as evidence of malpractice, and the opinion of a similar physician is now a prerequisite to bringing a medical malpractice claim. Many poor results are unfortunate but acceptable complications of the procedure or treatment, and not the result of a doctor's negligence. Unfortunately it is very expensive to fully investigate these claims and so most attorneys cannot undertake this investigation on every case. Because of this, most physicians can escape liability for negligence where the injuries to the patient are not of significant severity.

In the seventies and early eighties, a law suit could be filed against a physician for his or her negligence so that their patients could seek just compensation when that health care provider was negligent. In this manner, a doctor could be held accountable just like a lawyer, accountant, architect or any other professional provider of services. This is no longer true. The legislature has made it increasingly difficult to sue a physician, and now makes an injured victim jump through hoops and wade through a morass of legal paperwork before a lawsuit can even be filed.

Under the current law, before a doctor can be sued, the patient (or in most cases, their legal representative) must obtain copies of all relevant medical records. Most providers charge a dollar a page for these records, which can end up costing hundreds or even thousands of dollars merely to obtain copies of the records. Once these records are obtained, then a similar health care provider must review these records for a determination of whether there was a deviation from the standard of care. If the reviewing expert believes there is a viable claim against the doctor, this expert then must sign a verified written medical opinion, usually in affidavit form. This affidavit must then be sent to the physician by certified mail, return receipt requested. After doing all of this, then the victim of that doctor's negligence will be asked by the doctor's defense counsel to produce all of the medical records, as well as answer numerous questions about the claim. The doctor's insurer has 90 days to conduct it's good faith investigation of the claim. This whole process serves little purpose but to delay the victim's prosecution of his or her claim by as much as half a year.

At the conclusion of the 90 day period, called a pre-suit period, the doctor's attorney almost invariably sends a letter denying the claim, and includes an affidavit from another similar physician stating either there was no negligence or if there was negligence, it caused the patient no harm. Regardless of how egregious or outlandish the negligent doctor's conduct might have been, the doctor's attorneys always seem to be able to find a doctor willing to stick up for another physician. It is at this juncture that a lawsuit is filed.

Lawsuits by their nature are expensive to prosecute, and expensive to defend. However, malpractice insurers rarely settle cases until shortly before trial, unless the malpractice is undeniable and the patient's injuries are clearly worth well more than the doctor's limits of liability insurance. In many instances, the insurers refuse to pay even under these circumstances. Rarely is a case settled before the patient's expert witnesses are deposed, and there is a good reason for this. Whenever a doctor's malpractice insurance company settles a claim, it is required to report the settlement, and the amount of the settlement, to Tallahassee. The Department of Insurance keeps a record of these settlements, and physicians wish to avoid being on this list. There are also web sites which are referred to as "Bad Doctor Databases" and all physicians wish to avoid being on these lists. Consequently, the physicians are usually adamant they did nothing wrong to their insurers, and it is not until another doctor of similar specialty voices his or her criticisms of the doctor's care before the insurer feels comfortable settling the claim. Because of this, the litigation can take well in excess of one or two years to conclude.

During the course of the litigation, depositions are usually taken of all parties, as well as all treating doctors. Other discovery takes place, including interrogatories, or written questions, as well requests to produce written records, such as medical records, marriage licenses, birth certificates and the such. As the trial nears, the depositions of the expert witnesses are usually the last to be taken, and then a mediation is usually scheduled right before trial. A mediation is merely a settlement negotiation meeting where an impartial third person, usually an attorney skilled in the mediation process, is utilized to attempt to effectuate a settlement of the case. If this fails, the next step is a trial. Malpractice trials usually take at least three or four days, and some can and do take weeks. Depending on the verdict, appeals can be taken if the side unhappy with the outcome believes the judge committed error during the handling of the trial, or in ruling on any pre-trial motions. Appeals usually take at least a year from beginning to end.