Leesburg Florida medical malpractice lawyer discusses Supreme Court’s recent amended to causation jury instruction.
On March 20, 2014, the Florida Supreme Court amended the causation instruction to make it clear that an initial tortfeasor is responsible if a doctor commits malpractice while treating an injury victim for injuries related to the accident.
It’s black letter law. If a person is negligence and causes injury they are responsible for all consequences related to the negligence. This concept can confuse jurors. In an attempt to clarify the complexity, the Florida Supreme Court amended civil jury instruction 501.5(c) to read:
If you find that (defendant(s)) caused [loss] [injury] [or] [damage] to (claimant), then (defendant(s)) [is] [are] also responsible for any additional [loss] [injury] [or] [damage] caused by medical care or treatment reasonably obtained by (claimant).
The note to the jury instruction states that courts should use the instruction in cases where there is additional injury caused by subsequent medical treatment. This instruction makes sense because bad medical treatment after an initial injury is a foreseeable event and the person or corporation who injured the victim should be responsible for the loss. If you have any questions about a Stuart, Florida accident claim, give me a call at 352-267-9168352-267-9168.