Florida Surgical Error Lawyer
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When the Surgery That Was Supposed to Heal You Leaves You Worse Off — Or Kills Someone You Love
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You walked into that operating room trusting your surgeon. You signed the consent forms. You were told the risks — but you were also told the surgeon was skilled, the facility was accredited, and the procedure was routine. You woke up, or your family got the call, and nothing was routine anymore. A sponge was left inside you. The wrong leg was amputated. The BBL killed her. The da Vinci robot tore through an artery. The anesthesiologist wasn’t watching the monitors. The cosmetic surgery clinic in a Miami strip mall that advertised “budget tummy tucks” operated on your sister, and now she’s dead at 34.
Surgical errors are not “complications.” Complications are known, accepted risks that happen even when everyone does everything right. Surgical errors are preventable mistakes that should never happen — what The Joint Commission and the medical community call “never events.” And in Florida — particularly in Miami-Dade and Broward — surgical errors happen at rates that have made this state the national epicenter of cosmetic surgery deaths.
Sky Law Firm represents patients and families devastated by surgical malpractice across Florida. We handle wrong-site surgeries, wrong-patient surgeries, retained foreign body cases, anesthesia disasters, nerve damage, infection and sepsis from unsterile instruments, organ perforation, robotic surgery errors, and the cosmetic surgery death epidemic that has turned Miami into a graveyard for patients chasing affordable Brazilian butt lifts and tummy tucks. If a surgeon, hospital, anesthesiologist, scrub nurse, or device manufacturer caused your injury or killed your loved one, we want to hear your story.
Call (305) 320-4529 for a free, confidential consultation. We advance all costs. You pay nothing unless we recover money for you.
Why Surgical Errors Are Different From Other Medical Malpractice
Every surgical error case is a medical malpractice case under Florida law — which means every one of them is governed by Chapter 766 of the Florida Statutes, including the pre-suit notice requirements of Fla. Stat. § 766.106, the two-year statute of limitations of § 95.11(4)(b), and the expert affidavit requirement of § 766.203. But surgical error cases are different from other medical malpractice cases in several critical ways that affect how they are investigated, litigated, and valued.
Surgical errors often involve clear, documentable breaches. When a sponge is X-rayed inside a patient’s abdomen, or when the operative report shows the wrong kidney was removed, or when the chart shows the patient was supposed to have surgery on the left knee but the right knee was cut, the breach of the standard of care is not a matter of opinion. It is a matter of record. This changes the settlement dynamic dramatically — and it is why insurance carriers often pay more, and faster, in Florida cases than in diagnostic malpractice cases where expert testimony can go either way.
Surgical errors often involve multiple defendants. A single surgery may involve the primary surgeon, an assistant surgeon, an anesthesiologist, a CRNA, a scrub nurse, a circulating nurse, the hospital or surgical center, a device manufacturer (if a medical device malfunctioned), and sometimes a consulting physician. Identifying every responsible party — and the insurance coverage behind each — is a central part of maximizing recovery.
Surgical errors often involve “never events.” The Joint Commission, which accredits most U.S. hospitals, maintains a list of “sentinel events” that should never occur if proper safety protocols are followed. Wrong-site surgery, wrong-patient surgery, wrong-procedure surgery, and retained foreign bodies are on that list. When a never event occurs, it creates a powerful presumption of negligence and often triggers mandatory hospital reporting, internal root cause analyses, and regulatory consequences that become admissible evidence at trial.
Surgical errors in Florida often involve cosmetic surgery clinics operating with minimal oversight. Unlike hospital surgeries, cosmetic procedures in Florida are frequently performed in “office surgery” settings — clinics that are not accredited hospitals and are regulated under a separate framework. Florida has led the nation in cosmetic surgery deaths for over a decade, with South Florida BBL fatalities drawing federal attention. These cases require specialized investigation into clinic ownership, surgeon credentialing, anesthesia staffing, and patterns of prior deaths at the same facility.
Types of Surgical Errors We Handle
Surgical errors fall into several recognized categories. Sky Law Firm has experience across all of them.
Wrong-Site Surgery (A Joint Commission "Never Event")
Wrong-site surgery happens when a surgeon operates on the wrong side of the body, the wrong limb, the wrong organ, the wrong vertebra, or the wrong finger or toe. It is the textbook example of a never event. The Joint Commission’s Universal Protocol — adopted in 2004 — requires a pre-operative verification process, site marking with an indelible marker, and a “time out” immediately before incision to confirm the correct patient, correct site, and correct procedure. When a wrong-site surgery occurs, it almost always means the Universal Protocol was violated.
We have handled cases involving:
- Wrong-side kidney removal (leaving the patient dependent on dialysis when the diseased kidney remained)
- Wrong-knee arthroscopy
- Wrong-level spinal fusion (fusing L4-L5 when the pathology was at L5-S1)
- Wrong-eye cataract surgery
- Amputation of the wrong leg, foot, or toe
- Wrong-breast mastectomy
The damages in these cases are often catastrophic because the patient not only suffers the unnecessary surgery but still requires the correct surgery — and may now be in worse condition to undergo it.
Wrong-Patient Surgery
Rarer than wrong-site surgery but equally devastating, wrong-patient surgery occurs when the wrong patient is brought into the operating room and the planned procedure is performed on them. This can result from chart mix-ups, mislabeling, failures to verify identity with two identifiers (name and date of birth, typically), and breakdowns in the time-out process. We have seen cases where patients received procedures meant for another patient with the same last name, and cases where pre-operative imaging was mislabeled and used to plan surgery on the wrong person.
Retained Foreign Body — Sponges, Instruments, Needles
A retained foreign body is a surgical item left inside the patient after the incision is closed. This includes surgical sponges (the most common), hemostats, clamps, scalpel blades, needles, retractors, guide wires, and portions of broken instruments. The standard of care requires a surgical count — typically performed before the incision, before closure, and after closure — by the scrub nurse and circulating nurse, with the surgeon verifying the count. When the count is incorrect, the standard of care requires an X-ray before the patient leaves the operating room.
Retained foreign body cases are powerful because:
- The evidence is literal — the object is inside the patient
- The count sheet documents exactly when the breach occurred
- Modern radio-frequency sponge detection systems make prevention easy, and failure to use them (or to respond to alerts) is highly actionable
- Damages include the second surgery to remove the object, infection, sepsis, adhesions, chronic pain, and bowel obstruction
We have handled cases of sponges left in abdomens after C-sections, needles left in breasts after biopsies, and surgical clips left in bile ducts after gallbladder surgeries.
Anesthesia Errors
Anesthesia errors are among the most lethal surgical errors. They include:
- Over-sedation / respiratory depression — the leading cause of death in elective cosmetic procedures, particularly in office surgery settings with inadequate monitoring
- Failure to intubate or failed airway management
- Anesthesia awareness — the patient is paralyzed but conscious and feels the surgery
- Medication errors — wrong drug, wrong dose, wrong route
- Failure to recognize malignant hyperthermia — a genetic reaction to certain anesthetics that is fatal if not treated immediately
- Failure to monitor — inadequate pulse oximetry, capnography, ECG, or blood pressure monitoring
- Aspiration — stomach contents entering the lungs, often from failure to follow NPO (nothing by mouth) protocols
Anesthesia cases often involve separate liability for the anesthesiologist (who may be independent from the surgeon) and the CRNA, and they frequently trigger disputes over whether the anesthesiologist was physically present during the “induction” (the most dangerous phase) or was medically directing multiple rooms.
Nerve Damage
Nerve injuries during surgery can leave patients with lifelong paralysis, numbness, chronic pain, or loss of function. Common scenarios include:
- Spinal cord injury during spinal surgery
- Recurrent laryngeal nerve injury during thyroid or parathyroid surgery (resulting in vocal cord paralysis)
- Facial nerve injury during parotid surgery or cosmetic facial procedures
- Brachial plexus injury from improper patient positioning
- Femoral or sciatic nerve injury during hip and knee procedures
- Ulnar nerve injury from improper arm positioning
Not every nerve injury is malpractice — some are known risks. But nerve injuries from positioning, from failure to use intraoperative neuromonitoring when indicated, or from clear anatomical misidentification are frequently actionable.
Infection and Sepsis From Unsterile Instruments
Surgical site infections can occur even with perfect technique, but when they result from unsterile instruments, contaminated operating rooms, lapses in hand hygiene, or failure to administer prophylactic antibiotics, they are actionable. Florida has seen outbreaks at cosmetic surgery clinics traced to:
- Improperly sterilized cannulas used in liposuction
- Contaminated fat grafts in Florida procedures
- Reuse of single-use devices
- Inadequate autoclave maintenance
- Non-sterile water used to flush instruments
Sepsis cases are particularly devastating because they progress rapidly and often result in multi-organ failure, amputations, and death.
Organ Perforation
Organ perforations occur when a surgeon cuts, tears, or punctures an organ that was not the target of the procedure. Common scenarios include:
- Bowel perforation during hysterectomy, colonoscopy, or laparoscopic surgery
- Bladder perforation during gynecologic or urologic procedures
- Ureter injury during hysterectomy
- Liver or spleen laceration during abdominal surgery
- Lung puncture (pneumothorax) during central line placement or thoracic procedures
- Uterine perforation during D&C or IUD placement
The legal question is rarely whether a perforation occurred — it is whether the perforation was recognized and repaired during the procedure, or whether it was missed and the patient was sent home to develop peritonitis and sepsis.
Excessive Bleeding and Hemorrhage
Hemorrhage during or after surgery can be fatal when it results from:
- Injury to a major vessel that is not recognized intraoperatively
- Failure to control bleeding before closure
- Improper use of electrocautery or energy devices
- Anticoagulation errors (operating on patients who should have been taken off blood thinners, or failing to resume them appropriately)
- Failure to transfuse when indicated, including Jehovah’s Witness bloodless surgery cases
Unnecessary Surgery
Not every surgical error is technical. Some of the most egregious cases involve surgeries that should never have been performed at all. We have seen:
- Cardiac surgeons performing stents and bypasses on patients with no significant blockage
- Spine surgeons performing fusions and laminectomies on patients who needed physical therapy
- Orthopedic surgeons performing hip and knee replacements on patients whose imaging did not support the procedure
- Oncologic surgeries performed on misread biopsies
These cases often involve billing fraud overlays and can support punitive damages claims.
Robotic Surgery Errors — The da Vinci Problem
Robotic-assisted surgery — dominated by the Intuitive Surgical da Vinci system — has exploded in Florida over the past decade. Hospitals market it aggressively. Surgeons promote it on websites. Patients are told it is “minimally invasive,” “precise,” and “safer than traditional surgery.” In many cases, that is true. In many others, it is not.
Da Vinci errors have included:
- Thermal injuries from monopolar electrosurgery — the robotic arm’s energy device causes burns to adjacent tissue, often to the bowel, bladder, or ureter, that are not recognized during surgery
- Tip cover failures — the insulating tip of the electrosurgical instrument cracks or fails, releasing electrical current into unintended tissue
- Arc injuries — current arcs from the instrument tip to nearby metal or tissue
- Tissue entrapment in robotic arms
- Cable and component failures mid-surgery
- Surgeon inexperience — many da Vinci injuries occur during a surgeon’s first 20-50 cases, known as the “learning curve”
Intuitive Surgical Liability. Intuitive Surgical, the manufacturer of the da Vinci system, has faced thousands of lawsuits alleging defective design, inadequate warnings about thermal injury risks, inadequate surgeon training, and failure to report adverse events to the FDA. Florida cases often name Intuitive as a co-defendant alongside the surgeon and hospital, pursuing a product liability theory in parallel with the medical malpractice claim. This is a specialized area — the cases are complex, involve extensive electrical engineering discovery, and require experts in both medical malpractice and product liability.
If you or a loved one was injured during a da Vinci robotic surgery in Florida, the combination of hospital, surgeon, and device manufacturer defendants can dramatically increase available insurance and settlement value. Do not assume your case is “just” a medical malpractice case — it may be much more.
Bariatric Surgery Complications
Bariatric surgery — gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, lap band, duodenal switch — is big business in South Florida, with clinics marketing weight loss surgery to patients across the Caribbean and Latin America. When it goes wrong, it goes catastrophically wrong.
Common bariatric complications that rise to the level of malpractice include:
- Anastomotic leaks (leakage at the surgical connection) that are not diagnosed promptly
- Staple line failures
- Internal hernias after gastric bypass
- Gastric sleeve leaks causing peritonitis and sepsis
- Pulmonary embolism from inadequate DVT prophylaxis
- Nutritional deficiencies from inadequate follow-up
- Dumping syndrome and hypoglycemia
- Marginal ulcers and perforations
Bariatric surgery patients are often high-BMI, which makes them higher-risk surgical candidates — but this heightened risk is precisely why the standard of care demands careful patient selection, thorough pre-operative workup, intraoperative vigilance, and aggressive post-operative monitoring. When a bariatric surgeon takes on a high-risk patient and then treats them like a routine case, deaths follow.
Cosmetic Surgery — Miami's Deadly Reputation
We have to talk about cosmetic surgery, because Florida — and Miami specifically — has earned a reputation as the most dangerous place in the United States to get a cosmetic procedure. This is not hyperbole. It is documented in peer-reviewed medical literature, in Florida Department of Health records, in Miami-Dade Medical Examiner reports, and in federal investigations.
The BBL Death Epidemic
The Brazilian Butt Lift — technically called “gluteal fat grafting” — is the deadliest cosmetic surgery ever studied. A landmark study published by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons estimated a mortality rate of 1 in 3,000 BBLs worldwide, driven almost entirely by fat embolism: fat injected into the deep gluteal muscles enters the bloodstream, travels to the lungs or heart, and kills the patient, often within minutes.
Miami is the BBL capital of the world. Dozens of women — primarily Black, Latina, and working-class women who traveled to Miami for “affordable” procedures — have died in South Florida cosmetic surgery clinics over the past decade. Clinics operate under names that change every few years to escape scrutiny. Surgeons with disciplinary histories continue to operate. Clinics advertise $3,000 BBLs on Instagram and Spanish-language radio, with financing available.
Sky Law Firm has investigated and pursued BBL death cases against:
- Clinic owners operating under multiple corporate names to shield assets
- Surgeons not trained in plastic surgery (dermatologists, OB-GYNs, and general practitioners performing BBLs)
- Anesthesia providers who were not present during critical phases of the surgery
- Clinics with prior deaths that failed to change their protocols
- Agents and “patient coordinators” who recruited patients and misrepresented credentials
The Florida Board of Medicine issued an Emergency Restriction Order in 2022 requiring BBLs to be performed with ultrasound guidance to ensure fat is injected into the subcutaneous layer only — not the gluteal muscle. Violations of this order are direct evidence of negligence in post-2022 BBL death cases.
Tummy Tucks (Abdominoplasty)
Abdominoplasty deaths in Florida most commonly result from:
- Pulmonary embolism (especially when combined with liposuction, which extends operative time and increases DVT risk)
- Hemorrhage from inadequate vessel ligation
- Bowel injury from plication sutures
- Infection and necrosis, particularly in smokers and diabetics who should not have been surgical candidates
- Anesthesia overdose during combined procedures
Liposuction
Liposuction deaths in Florida have been traced to:
- Lidocaine toxicity from excessive tumescent solution
- Fat embolism (especially with large-volume liposuction)
- Hemorrhage from cannula injuries to abdominal organs
- Fluid overload and pulmonary edema
- Combining liposuction with other major procedures in unaccredited office settings
Cosmetic Surgery Deaths — The Statistics
Florida leads the nation in cosmetic surgery fatalities. Miami-Dade County in particular has had years where cosmetic surgery deaths reached double digits. A 2022 study in the Aesthetic Surgery Journal identified South Florida office-based surgery centers as having mortality rates up to ten times the national average. The causes are structural:
- Florida’s “office surgery” regulations allow complex procedures to be performed outside accredited hospitals
- Enforcement against repeat-offender clinics is slow
- Surgeons who lose privileges at hospitals continue operating in office settings
- Clinics use corporate shells to evade liability
- Patients travel from out of state and out of country, making post-operative follow-up inadequate
Plastic Surgery Tourism Liability
Miami has become a destination for cosmetic surgery tourism — patients flying in from New York, Atlanta, Chicago, the Caribbean, and Latin America for “package deal” procedures that combine surgery, hotel stays, and “recovery house” care. The tourism model creates specific liability traps:
Inadequate pre-operative workup. Patients arriving 24-48 hours before surgery do not receive proper medical clearance, labs, EKGs, or anesthesia consultations. Undiagnosed conditions — sleep apnea, cardiac disease, clotting disorders — go unrecognized until the patient codes on the table.
Recovery houses instead of hospitals. Post-operative patients are sent to unregulated “recovery houses” where they are cared for by untrained attendants. When complications develop — bleeding, infection, respiratory distress — there is no medical monitoring, no IV access, and often no plan for transfer to a hospital.
Early discharge and flights home. Patients are put on planes within 3-7 days of major surgery. Pulmonary embolism risk spikes during air travel. Patients die mid-flight or at home days later from preventable complications.
Jurisdictional complexity. Patients from other states who are injured in Florida must file suit in Florida under Florida’s stringent medical malpractice statutes. International patients face even more complex forum questions. These cases require counsel familiar with Florida’s pre-suit notice regime and the specific carve-outs for surgical centers and office-based surgery.
Sky Law Firm is based in Miami and handles surgical tourism injury cases for patients from any state or country who were operated on in Florida.
Who Can Be Sued in a Florida Surgical Error Case
Identifying every responsible party is central to maximizing recovery. A typical surgical error case may involve:
The Primary Surgeon. Liable for technical errors, informed consent failures, supervision of residents and fellows, and abandonment.
Assistant Surgeons. Fellow surgeons, residents, and physician assistants who participated in the procedure may have independent duties and liability.
The Anesthesiologist and CRNA. Independent from the surgeon in most cases, with their own malpractice policies. Often the deepest pocket in a death case.
The Hospital or Surgical Center. Liable for credentialing failures, nursing negligence, equipment failures, infection control breakdowns, and — under certain theories — for the conduct of physicians practicing there. Hospitals carry much larger policies than individual physicians.
The Scrub Nurse and Circulating Nurse. Responsible for sponge and instrument counts. Employers (typically the hospital) are vicariously liable.
The Device Manufacturer. When a medical device — robotic system, surgical mesh, staple line reinforcement, energy device — malfunctioned or had inadequate warnings, the manufacturer can be named under Florida product liability law.
The Cosmetic Surgery Clinic Owner. Often the “true bad actor” in Miami cosmetic death cases. We pursue direct liability for credentialing, staffing, and operational decisions, as well as alter-ego and piercing-the-corporate-veil theories when clinics are undercapitalized.
Referring Physicians and Patient Coordinators. In surgical tourism cases, the people who recruited the patient and made representations about surgeon qualifications may have independent liability.
Pharmaceutical Companies. When a drug administered during or after surgery (anesthetic, post-operative pain medication, anticoagulant) caused harm through defective design or inadequate warnings.
The Joint Commission "Never Events" Framework
The National Quality Forum maintains a list of 29 “Serious Reportable Events” that are largely preventable and indicate fundamental lapses in patient safety. Many of these are surgical:
- Surgery or invasive procedure on the wrong site
- Surgery or invasive procedure on the wrong patient
- Wrong surgical or invasive procedure performed on a patient
- Unintended retention of a foreign object in a patient after surgery or other procedure
- Intraoperative or immediately postoperative/post-procedure death in an ASA Class 1 patient
- Patient death or serious injury associated with a fall while being cared for in a healthcare setting
- Patient death or serious injury associated with a medication error
- Patient death or serious injury associated with the use of contaminated drugs, devices, or biologics
When a never event occurs, it triggers:
- Mandatory reporting to state and federal regulators
- Root cause analysis under Joint Commission standards
- Often, Medicare and Medicaid refuse to pay for the procedure and its complications
- Public reporting on the hospital’s quality metrics
- Internal peer review
All of these generate documents that are discoverable (with some protections) in litigation and that can be used to establish breach of the standard of care.
Florida Pre-Suit Notice Requirements — Fla. Stat. § 766.106
Before filing a surgical error lawsuit in Florida, you must comply with Chapter 766’s pre-suit requirements. These are strict, time-sensitive, and technical. An error can cost you your case.
Notice of Intent. You must serve a Notice of Intent to Initiate Litigation on every prospective defendant at least 90 days before filing suit (Fla. Stat. § 766.106). The notice must include a medical expert affidavit corroborating that reasonable grounds exist to believe negligence occurred (Fla. Stat. § 766.203).
Pre-Suit Investigation Period. During the 90-day pre-suit period, defendants may:
- Reject the claim
- Make a settlement offer
- Offer to arbitrate damages (admitting liability)
- Request the informal pre-suit discovery allowed by § 766.106(6)
Tolling of the Statute of Limitations. Service of the notice tolls the statute of limitations for 90 days, but the underlying two-year statute (Fla. Stat. § 95.11(4)(b)) continues to run otherwise, with a statute of repose of four years (with exceptions for fraud and concealment).
Expert Qualifications. The corroborating expert must be licensed and practice in the same specialty as the defendant physician, or a similar specialty with experience in the procedure at issue. Finding the right expert early is critical.
Consequences of Non-Compliance. Failure to comply with the pre-suit notice requirements results in dismissal of the case — and if the statute of limitations has run, dismissal may be with prejudice.
This is why hiring an experienced Florida medical malpractice lawyer early matters. Sky Law Firm handles every step of the pre-suit process in-house.
Case Results — Florida Surgical Error Recoveries
The results listed below are from cases handled by Sky Law Firm and its attorneys. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case is different.
$9,200,000 — Retained Surgical Sponge Causing Sepsis (Miami-Dade County). A surgical sponge was left in our client’s abdomen during an emergency C-section. The count was documented as correct despite the retention. The patient developed sepsis, required three additional surgeries, and suffered permanent adhesions and chronic pain.
$6,800,000 — BBL Death (Miami-Dade County). A 31-year-old mother of two died from fat embolism during a Brazilian Butt Lift at a Miami cosmetic surgery clinic. The surgeon was not a board-certified plastic surgeon. The anesthesia provider was not present during induction. The clinic had two prior deaths. Settlement reached with the clinic, surgeon, and anesthesia provider under a confidential structured agreement.
$4,500,000 — Wrong-Level Spinal Fusion (Broward County). Our client was scheduled for fusion at L5-S1 to address a herniated disc. The surgeon fused L4-L5 instead. The original pathology was untreated, the patient required a second fusion, and she developed chronic pain and loss of lumbar mobility.
$3,750,000 — da Vinci Robotic Thermal Injury (Miami-Dade County). During a robotic hysterectomy, a thermal injury to the ureter went unrecognized. The patient developed a fistula, required multiple reconstructive surgeries, and lost a kidney. Claims brought against the surgeon, hospital, and device manufacturer.
$2,900,000 — Anesthesia Death During Tummy Tuck (Broward County). A 42-year-old woman died from respiratory depression during a combined tummy tuck and liposuction at an office surgery center. The anesthesia provider was medically directing multiple rooms and was not present when the patient desaturated.
$2,400,000 — Wrong-Site Knee Surgery (Palm Beach County). An orthopedic surgeon performed an ACL reconstruction on the wrong knee. The correct knee still required surgery; the patient now has two surgically reconstructed knees, one of which was medically unnecessary.
$1,750,000 — Bowel Perforation During Hysterectomy (Miami-Dade County). Unrecognized bowel injury during laparoscopic hysterectomy led to delayed diagnosis of peritonitis, emergency surgery, a colostomy, and multiple reversal procedures.
$1,250,000 — Retained Guide Wire After Central Line Placement (Miami-Dade County). A guide wire was left in our client’s vascular system after a central line was placed in the ICU. It migrated for three weeks before being discovered on a CT scan for an unrelated complaint.
Why Choose Sky Law Firm for Your Surgical Error Case
Miami-Based, Florida-Focused. We are not a national firm that will refer your case out. We are a Miami law firm that knows the hospitals, the surgeons, the cosmetic clinics, the Medical Examiner’s office, and the judges who hear these cases. We know which surgeons have prior disciplinary actions, which clinics have had deaths, and which insurance carriers settle and which ones fight.
Medical Malpractice Is What We Do. Surgical error cases require investment — expert witnesses, record reviews, pathology reviews, deposition costs, life care planners. We have the resources and the specialization to handle the most complex cases, including BBL death, da Vinci, and medical tourism cases.
We Advance All Costs. You pay nothing out of pocket. We front expert fees, record costs, filing fees, and deposition costs. If we do not recover, you owe nothing.
We Handle the Pre-Suit Process In-House. From the moment you call, we begin the investigation: ordering records, engaging experts, drafting the Notice of Intent, and preparing the expert affidavit. We do not refer this work to other firms.
We Prepare Every Case for Trial. Insurance carriers pay what they believe a jury will award. We have tried surgical error cases to verdict, and that credibility drives better settlements.
Frequently Asked Questions — Florida Surgical Error Cases
1. How long do I have to file a surgical malpractice lawsuit in Florida?
Florida’s medical malpractice statute of limitations is two years from the date you discovered, or should have discovered with reasonable diligence, the injury and its connection to medical negligence (Fla. Stat. § 95.11(4)(b)). There is a four-year statute of repose, meaning that except in cases of fraud, concealment, or intentional misrepresentation, no case can be filed more than four years after the incident. For minors, there are special rules that can extend these deadlines. Because the pre-suit notice process itself takes 90 days and requires expert affidavits that take time to secure, you should contact a lawyer well before the two-year deadline — ideally within the first few months.
2. What is a “never event” and why does it matter in my case?
A “never event” is a serious medical error that should never occur with proper safety protocols — wrong-site surgery, wrong-patient surgery, retained foreign body, and similar errors identified by The Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum. When a never event occurs, it typically creates a powerful inference of negligence, triggers mandatory hospital reporting, leads to Medicare non-payment, and generates internal investigation documents that can become evidence. Never-event cases tend to settle higher and faster than other medical malpractice cases because the breach is often undeniable.
3. I had a Brazilian Butt Lift in Miami and my family member died. Do I have a case?
Likely yes, and these are among the highest-priority cases we take. BBL deaths in Florida have been so widespread that the Florida Board of Medicine issued emergency regulations in 2022 requiring ultrasound guidance. Deaths from fat embolism during BBL procedures are almost always the result of fat being injected into the gluteal muscle rather than the subcutaneous layer — a clear deviation from the standard of care. Cosmetic surgery clinics involved in these deaths frequently have multiple prior fatalities, use shell corporations to evade liability, and have inadequate anesthesia coverage. We investigate the surgeon’s credentials, the clinic’s ownership structure, the anesthesia staffing, and any prior deaths at the facility.
4. Can I sue the hospital, or just the surgeon?
Both, in most cases. Hospitals can be liable for:
- Their own direct negligence (credentialing a dangerous surgeon, inadequate staffing, broken equipment, infection control failures)
- The negligence of their employees (nurses, techs, sometimes employed physicians)
- In some Florida cases, under apparent agency theories, for the negligence of independent contractor physicians who appear to patients to be hospital employees
Hospital policies are typically much larger than individual physician policies, so including the hospital as a defendant dramatically increases available recovery. Whether the hospital is liable for a particular surgeon’s negligence depends on the employment relationship and how the hospital held the surgeon out to the public.
5. What if I signed a consent form that listed the risk that occurred?
Informed consent does not shield a provider from negligence. You consented to the known risks of the procedure — not to the surgeon’s negligence. If your surgeon left a sponge inside you, operated on the wrong side, or perforated your bowel through carelessness, the fact that you signed a consent form listing “possible infection” or “possible injury” is not a defense. That said, informed consent can be a defense in cases where the only claim is that you would not have consented if you had been properly informed of a particular risk. In those cases, the legal test is whether a reasonable person in your position would have refused the procedure if properly warned.
6. How are damages calculated in Florida surgical malpractice cases?
Florida compensates injured patients for:
- Past and future medical expenses
- Past and future lost earnings and loss of earning capacity
- Past and future pain and suffering
- Loss of consortium for spouses
- In wrongful death cases, the damages set out in the Florida Wrongful Death Act, including lost support and services, lost companionship, and mental pain and suffering (Fla. Stat. §§ 768.16–768.26)
Florida’s previous cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases was struck down by the Florida Supreme Court in 2014 (McCall) and 2017 (North Broward Hospital District v. Kalitan). There is currently no cap on non-economic damages in Florida actions.
7. What does the pre-suit notice process look like?
Before filing suit, we serve a Notice of Intent to Initiate Litigation on every defendant, accompanied by a medical expert’s affidavit. This opens a 90-day investigation period during which defendants can reject the claim, make settlement offers, offer to arbitrate, or conduct informal discovery. The statute of limitations is tolled during this period. At the end of the 90 days, if no settlement is reached, we file the lawsuit. The process is technical and strict; a failure to comply properly can end your case.
8. Can I sue Intuitive Surgical for a da Vinci robotic surgery injury?
Potentially yes. Intuitive Surgical has faced thousands of product liability lawsuits alleging design defects, inadequate warnings (particularly regarding thermal injury risks), and inadequate surgeon training. These claims are asserted in parallel with claims against the surgeon and hospital. Whether a product liability claim is viable depends on the specific mechanism of injury, the version of the da Vinci system used, and the documented training and experience of the operating surgeon. These cases are complex and require specialized electrical engineering and medical device experts.
9. I came to Miami from another state for cosmetic surgery and something went wrong. Where do I file?
Cases involving surgeries performed in Florida are generally filed in Florida, under Florida law, regardless of where the patient lives. This means Florida’s two-year statute of limitations, Florida’s pre-suit notice requirements, and Florida’s damages rules apply. You do not need to be a Florida resident to bring a case; many of our surgical tourism cases are filed on behalf of out-of-state and international patients.
10. What if the surgeon who hurt me has since lost his license or left the country?
It doesn’t end the case. Even if the surgeon is unavailable, we can pursue:
- The surgeon’s malpractice insurance carrier, which typically must defend and indemnify claims for conduct covered under the policy even after license revocation
- The hospital or clinic that credentialed and employed the surgeon
- The anesthesia provider, nurses, and other independent responsible parties
- Device manufacturers
We have recovered substantial settlements in cases where the primary surgeon had fled the country or surrendered their license.
11. How much does it cost to hire a surgical error lawyer?
Nothing up front. Sky Law Firm handles medical malpractice cases on a contingency fee basis — we are paid a percentage of the recovery only if we win. We also advance all case costs: experts, records, filing fees, depositions. If we do not recover money for you, you owe us nothing — not for our time, and not for the costs we have advanced. Florida’s contingent fee rules for medical malpractice cases are governed by Rule 4-1.5(f) of the Florida Rules of Professional Conduct, and the fee structure will be explained in detail before you sign anything.
12. How long will my surgical malpractice case take?
Most Florida surgical malpractice cases resolve within 12 to 36 months. The timeline depends on:
- The pre-suit investigation period (90 days minimum, often longer to secure expert affidavits)
- Whether the case settles during pre-suit or requires filing
- Court scheduling and discovery complexity
- Whether the case goes to trial
Cases with clear liability — retained foreign bodies, wrong-site surgeries, never events — often settle faster. Cases with contested causation (e.g., whether the surgeon’s error, rather than the underlying disease, caused the death) take longer. We will give you realistic expectations at every stage.
Meet Attorney Andrew Sky
Andrew Jarrett Sky, Esq. founded Sky Law Firm, P.A. in 2012.
- Education: University of Miami School of Law (JD)
- Bar: Florida state courts, USDC Southern District of Florida
- Languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole
- Credentials: National Trial Lawyers Top 100, Super Lawyers, AVVO 8.1 (4.8★), America’s Top 100 PI Attorneys
- Case Results: $3M, $1.9M, $1.8M, $1.2M in recent Florida settlements
Call (305) 320-4529 to speak with Andrew’s team directly.
Serving All Major Florida Cities
Contact Sky Law Firm — Free Consultation
If you or someone you love was injured or killed by a surgical error in Florida, call Sky Law Firm today. We review records at no cost. We advance all expenses. You pay nothing unless we recover money for you.
Phone: (305) 320-4529 Email: intake@skylawmiami.com Office: Miami, Florida — serving all of Florida
Calls are answered 24/7. Se habla español.
Call Now — Toll-Free 24/7
1-844-OUCH-844 (That’s 1-844-682-4844 — easy to remember when you’re hurt.)
Got hurt? One call to OUCH solves it all. Free consultation. No fee unless we win.
Local Miami line: (305) 320-4529
Visit Sky Law Firm
Sky Law Firm
3333 W Commercial Blvd STE 105, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309
(305) 320-4529
What Our Clients Say
Real reviews from real clients on Google.
⭐ Rated 4.8/5 on Avvo · 120+ Five-Star Reviews
Real reviews from real clients across Florida.
Leave a ReviewSee Our Avvo ReviewsFree Case Review — 24/7
Tell us about your injury. A Sky Law Firm attorney will review your case and respond within one hour. No fee unless we win.
Free Case Review — 24/7
Tell us about your injury. A Sky Law Firm attorney will review your case and respond within one hour. No fee unless we win.
Prefer to talk? Call (305) 320-4529 anytime.
Prefer to talk? Call (305) 320-4529 anytime.