Tampa medical malpractice lawyer.

Two years from the date of incident, or from when you reasonably should have discovered the harm. The absolute statute of repose is four years. Birth-injury claims involving a child extend to the child’s eighth birthday under Florida § 95.11(4)(b). The same Florida deadlines apply in Tampa, Hillsborough County, and across the Tampa Bay region (Pasco and Pinellas).

Both can be defendants depending on the facts. Tampa General is a private nonprofit teaching hospital, not a public hospital, so no sovereign-immunity caps apply. Most attending physicians at Tampa General, AdventHealth, HCA, and BayCare hospitals are independent contractors. Hospital liability often turns on apparent-agency analysis (whether a reasonable patient believed the doctor was a hospital employee). Resident-and-attending oversight, nursing escalation, triage, monitoring, and protocol failures are typically direct hospital liability.

Yes, we handle catastrophic-injury cases across West-Central Florida (Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, and surrounding counties) and litigate many of them in Tampa courts. The 13th Judicial Circuit serves Hillsborough; cases from Pinellas may proceed in the 6th Circuit, Pasco in the 6th, and Polk in the 10th. We will tell you on the first call whether venue is in Tampa or another circuit.

Common in Tampa Bay. A patient may be treated at an AdventHealth FSED, transferred to St. Joseph’s, then admitted to Tampa General. Each handoff is a potential liability point. You do not need to gather records before calling. We obtain everything under HIPAA from every facility and every provider in the chain to identify which deviation actually caused the harm and which entity is responsible.

Florida § 766.102 defines medical malpractice as a breach of the prevailing professional standard of care by a healthcare provider that causes injury. The standard is what a reasonably prudent provider in the same specialty would have done. A bad outcome alone is not malpractice. There must be a breach.

Nothing upfront. We work on contingency: no fee unless we recover for you. Our fee is a percentage of any recovery, capped by Florida Bar Rule 4-1.5(f)(4)(B), which sets the maximum percentage by stage of the case. Your exact rate is fixed in writing before we start. Case costs (expert witnesses, depositions, life-care planners, trial graphics, typically $75,000 to $250,000 on a complex case) are advanced by the firm and reimbursed only out of recovery. If we don’t recover, you owe us zero.

Probably not. Most cases settle during discovery or mediation, and that is the goal: maximize value, then resolve. What drives settlement value up is the firm’s willingness to take cases to verdict, paired with the § 766.203 pre-acceptance physician screening. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome in your case.

Sí. Our intake team is fully bilingual; trial work can be conducted in either language with a court interpreter when needed.