If you are looking for a medical malpractice lawyer in Sarasota, the first thing to know is that Florida’s deadline is short and the process starts before any lawsuit.
In Florida, you generally have two years from the date you discovered, or should have discovered, the injury to bring a medical malpractice claim, and you must complete a pre-suit investigation and serve a notice of intent on each provider before a lawsuit can be filed. That pre-suit work takes time, so the practical window is shorter than it looks.
When a doctor, nurse, or hospital makes a preventable mistake, the harm is real, lasting, and deeply personal. At Shapiro Delgado, our Sarasota medical malpractice lawyers help patients and families get honest answers about what happened and pursue accountability.
Our attorneys bring over 100 years of combined legal experience, we are available 24/7, and your consultation is free. Call (941) 954-4000.
Two years from when the malpractice occurred or from when you discovered it, or reasonably should have discovered it. Under Florida’s statute of limitations for medical malpractice, the discovery rule means the clock may start when a later doctor identifies an earlier error, or when symptoms first suggest something went wrong, rather than on the date of the procedure itself.
Florida also sets an outer limit called a statute of repose. Even if an error is discovered late, a claim generally cannot be brought more than four years after the incident. Several exceptions change these limits:
Because these rules interact, and because the pre-suit investigation must be finished before the notice is served, we encourage families to contact a lawyer as soon as they suspect a medical error.
Medical malpractice happens when a health care provider fails to meet the prevailing professional standard of care and that failure causes harm. Florida defines the standard in its medical negligence statute as the level of care that reasonably careful, similar providers recognize as acceptable and appropriate. A bad outcome alone is not malpractice. A claim generally requires proof that:
Proving each of these points almost always requires medical experts, which is why the investigation starts with the records and a qualified physician’s review.
Florida requires a structured pre-suit process for medical negligence claims. Each stage has its own requirements and timing:
Gathering records and securing an expert opinion can take weeks or months, so the earlier this work begins, the more room there is to do it well.
Florida’s statutes still contain caps on noneconomic damages in medical negligence cases, but the Florida Supreme Court has held those caps unconstitutional in both personal injury and wrongful death cases, so they are not currently applied to limit pain and suffering awards. Other limits do still matter.
Claims against a government-operated hospital or its employees fall under Florida’s sovereign immunity law, which limits what the government entity can pay without a special act of the Legislature and carries its own notice requirements.
Sarasota Memorial Hospital is operated by a public hospital district, so a claim involving care there may be affected by these rules. Private hospitals and physician practices are not subject to those limits.
Florida also handles shared fault differently in medical cases. Most negligence claims are barred if the injured person is more than 50% at fault, but Florida’s comparative fault law excludes medical negligence from that rule.
If a jury valued a claim at $500,000 and found the patient 60% responsible, for example by ignoring discharge instructions, the patient could still recover the 40% attributable to the provider, or $200,000.
Our Sarasota medical malpractice attorneys handle a broad range of cases involving serious, preventable harm.
Wrong-site surgery, retained surgical instruments, nerve or organ damage during a procedure, and poor post-operative monitoring can leave patients with life-altering consequences. A surgical error lawyer in Sarasota will look closely at operative notes, anesthesia records, and nursing documentation to see where care broke down.
A missed or delayed diagnosis of cancer, stroke, heart attack, sepsis, or infection can allow a treatable condition to become far more dangerous. These cases often turn on whether a careful provider would have ordered a test, read an image differently, or acted on a result.
Errors during labor and delivery can harm both newborn and mother. Conditions such as brachial plexus injuries and brain injuries from oxygen deprivation are sometimes linked to delayed intervention or poor fetal monitoring. As a Sarasota birth injury lawyer, we also review whether Florida’s birth-related neurological injury compensation program may apply, since it can affect which path a family’s claim takes.
Prescribing the wrong drug or dose, missing a dangerous interaction, or failing to monitor a patient under anesthesia can cause brain injury, cardiac events, or death. These errors can happen at the physician, pharmacy, or hospital-system level.
Sometimes a provider correctly identifies a condition but fails to act, by discharging a patient without follow-up, failing to refer to a specialist, or ignoring critical test results.
Many of the patients and families we speak with received care at the region’s major medical centers, including surgery centers, urgent care clinics, and physician practices across Sarasota and Manatee counties. Seeking care at a respected institution does not mean every provider there met the standard of care, and it does not mean a mistake cannot be challenged.
Where the care took place affects the case. A hospital may be responsible for the negligence of its employees, such as nurses and technicians, or for failing to maintain safe systems, while some physicians who work in hospitals are independent contractors with their own coverage.
Whether a facility is public or private can change the notice rules and what can be recovered. Identifying every responsible party is one of the first things we do.
Every case starts with the records. We request treatment notes, lab results, imaging, surgical and anesthesia reports, medication administration records, and, where relevant, the electronic health record audit trail, which can show who entered or changed information and when.
We also speak with the patient and family, whose account of symptoms and conversations often fills gaps the chart leaves out.
From there, we work with qualified physicians in the relevant specialty to evaluate whether care fell below the standard and whether that failure caused the harm. Those experts help explain the medicine clearly, first in pre-suit and, if needed, to a Sarasota County jury.
We prepare each case as though it may go to trial, because that preparation is what gives a claim leverage during negotiation.
Depending on the facts, a medical malpractice claim may include current and future medical expenses, lost wages and reduced earning capacity, and pain, suffering, and diminished quality of life.
When a patient dies, surviving family members may bring a wrongful death claim for losses such as funeral expenses, lost support, and loss of companionship. We account for costs you will face years from now, not only the bills you have today.
Medical malpractice is a genuine focus of our practice, not an afterthought. Hospitals and their insurers begin building a defense quickly, and patients without representation often do not know which records to request, which deadlines apply, or how to respond when a provider’s risk manager calls.
We handle each stage, from the first records request through pre-suit and, when necessary, trial.
We handle medical malpractice cases on a contingency fee basis. You pay nothing upfront, and our fee comes only from compensation we recover for you. That means experienced representation is available regardless of your financial situation.
You may have a Florida medical malpractice case if a provider’s care fell below the accepted standard and that failure, not your underlying condition, caused you harm. The only reliable way to know is to have an attorney and a qualified physician review your medical records.
Adult children in Florida generally cannot recover pain and suffering damages for a parent’s death caused by medical negligence, and parents cannot recover them for the death of an adult child, under a provision of the Wrongful Death Act that remains in effect as of 2026. Repeal efforts have been filed in recent sessions, so the rule may change.
Other damages, such as medical and funeral expenses paid by the estate, may still be available, and we know how painful this limitation is for grieving families.
A Florida hospital can be held responsible for the negligence of its employees and for unsafe policies or systems, and a claim may name both the hospital and individual providers. Whether a particular doctor is a hospital employee or an independent contractor affects who is responsible.
A Florida medical malpractice case takes at least several months before a lawsuit can even be filed, because the pre-suit investigation and the mandatory 90-day review come first. Cases that go into litigation commonly take a year or more, depending on the complexity of the medicine and the court’s schedule.
If you think a medical error harmed you, get any care you need first, then request copies of your medical records and keep bills, prescriptions, and notes about what happened and when. Avoid signing documents from the provider or its insurer before getting legal advice, and contact a Florida malpractice attorney promptly because of the pre-suit timeline.
Shapiro Delgado handles medical malpractice cases on a contingency fee basis, so there is no upfront cost and we are paid only if we recover compensation for you. Your first consultation is free.
Florida’s pre-suit requirements mean a malpractice claim needs attention well before the two-year deadline arrives. If you or someone you love was harmed by medical care in Sarasota, Venice, Lakewood Ranch, or elsewhere in the region, we can review what happened, explain your options in plain language, and tell you honestly whether we believe a claim is worth pursuing. Call Shapiro Delgado at (941) 954-4000 for a free consultation.
Every case is different, and results depend on the specific facts of your case. This page provides general information and is not legal advice.
