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Nursing home lawsuit may proceed
©Associated Press
December 13, 2002
TALLAHASSEE -- People who sue nursing homes don't have to comply with the tougher restrictions imposed by state law on medical malpractice lawsuits, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
The decision allows the widow of an elderly man who died in Bon Secours Maria Manor in St. Petersburg in April 1998 to sue.
The state's high court dismissed arguments by Bon Secours that Pauline Lang-Redway had to meet certain requirements for a medical malpractice lawsuit to go to court.
The lawsuit contends that the nursing home didn't take proper care of Albert Redway, who died at age 92.
The nursing home argued that the lawsuit should be dismissed because Lang-Redway didn't follow the steps outlined in law for people who want to file medical malpractice lawsuits.
The trial court refused to dismiss. The 2nd District Court of Appeal upheld that ruling in 2001 but also asked the state's high court to consider the issue.
Lang-Redway's lawsuit is based on Florida's nursing home residents' rights law, not on its medical malpractice law, Justice Leander Shaw wrote for the Supreme Court.
Under the state's 1988 medical malpractice law, plaintiffs can't just file a lawsuit. They must get a written opinion from an expert that they have a reasonable claim and notify the defendants that they plan to go to court. Then they have to wait 90 days. During that period, the parties may agree to binding arbitration; and if health care providers admit liability, they can force arbitration and limit awards.
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