Palm Coast Injury Law Blog : Florida Personal Injury Lawyer & Attorney : Philip J. Chanfrau

I was consulted today by the mother of  a young girl who went to the hospital Emergency room in Sarasota three times in less than a week.  Each time she was sent home with little or no care.  Turns out she had acute pancreatitis. Within days it caused anoxic brain damages and she went into a coma for two months.

  It was all preventable with reasonable medical care, and should have never happened at all. She spent months in a rehab center. Miraculously she is now just learning to walk and talk all over again.

A very fine medical malpractice law firm was called to take the case. However, the emergency room in the Sarasota Hospital where this all happened is part of the State of Florida.  It is a state agency, just like Halifax Hospital and some other regional hospitals.  The State of Florida allows lawsuits to be filed for up to $100,000 for damages caused by its hospitals.  This is called Sovereign Immunity.  Because of the immunity, and the fact that it would cost at least $100,000 to sue the Sarasota Hospital, the medical malpractice claim was rejected by the medical malpractice law firm.  Economic realities make it impossible to sue on a contingency fee basis even where the damages are horrendous and a person's life is taken away.

The $100,000 max is a type of cap on damages which most people don't know about.  There are other caps too, like the cap on punitive damages which most jurors don't know about. Juries are not told about these caps because the legislature will not allow judges to explain the law to juries: it makes the juries mad at lawyers and judges.  Their anger should be at the stupidos in the Florida legislature. The legislators who bow and scrape for the lobbysists  think they are doing a good thing protecting the public purse.  What is really wild about this is that oftentimes the hospital has a $10,000,000 insurance policy to fall back on.  But it can't be touched.  Duh?

When someone is severely injured guess who winds up footing the bill when there is no insurance?  The taxpayers do, through welfare programs like medicaid and social security disability. That is what is called government malpractice. 

in my opinon the only way to fix it is to elect people who care more about others than the bottom dollar.

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I am very angry about a law on the books in Florida.  Florida statue 768.735  forbids a court from letting a Jury know that no matter how vile, disgusting and unacceptable the Jury finds the  behavior of the Defendant to have been, that the court will after getting their Verdict chop it down if it is more than 3 times the compensatory damages.  This law makes me mad because I have always respected Juries.  I have found them to be the absolute bedrock of fairness.

Now, the Florida legislature has basically said:  We don't trust our fellow Floridians who sit on a Jury to do what is fair.  Not only that, we will not even let the Judge tell them we don't trust them!

I have a case under advisement. YOU know the type of case where you get so angry at what the Defendant did, it makes you sick to your stomach.  Disgusting. 

No wonder some people do not like the legal system.  The search for the Truth has taken a dive.  Thanks to the legislature. Big Business has bought them off.

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 With every new form of technology there is a learning curve.  Cell phones are no exception.  When they first went on the market, they were seen as a way to call for help if the car broke down, you got stranded, or were going to be late for an appointment.  In the last 20 years the affordability of cell phones has made it possible to provide every member in the family with their own phone, and parents are under pressure to provide them for teens and pre-teens so they can be safe or cool.

But phones have become modern day Weapons of Mass Destruction.  The ways cell phones have become destructive defies the imagination.  Even in Iraq and Afghanistan they are being used to set off IEDs.  Websites on texting abuse and cyber bullying are everywhere.  Cyber bullying is common among students.  The ruthlessness and crudeness of these insulting tasks is very deep and painful.  Almost every couple of days we hear of another kid who commits suicide after being ridiculed by his or her "friends" into thinking they are fat, or unpopular, or uncool.  Kids do not have the maturity or judgment to know it is NOT the end of their world, or that their "friends" are not "friends" at all.  Sending nude pictures of children via a cell phone can result in criminal prosecution and getting labeled for life as a sex offender.  That is no joke.

One example of this behavior explained how a  concerned parent discovered how desperate her 7th grade  daughter was, and removed her from school, without notice and re enrolled her in another school.  She then printed the harassing text messages her child had been the victim of, and showed them to the unbelieving parents of the former "friends." Until then the parents had been clueless of their child's  cyber bullying.

May I recommend that if you are thinking of allowing your child to use a computer or cell phone, that one of the ground rules be that you will on demand and without notice have the right to monitor and download all messages including emails, texts and pictures, whether sent or received by your child. Check out websites that recommend rules for using the internet safely and then discuss them with your children.

You have the duty to keep your child safe and that includes safe from mental  torture.  And then follow up on these duties regularly.  If you don't,  your child may be the victim of a WMD and you will have only yourself to blame.

Don't rely on the already overburdened School to know what your child is doing.  It is is your job  to control off campus behavior by your child.  Your parenting skills  may save a life or prevent the loss of self esteem which is so important to children.  

Believe me, it is that important

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Over the last few years Parents have witnessed lots of examples on TV of frightening escalations in brutal attacks on their children by other children. As texting has become more popular, a new word “cyber-bullying” has been coined. Dozens of websites devoted to the prevention of bullying have popped up. It has been clear for years that bullying is a serious problem at schools, with three-quarters of junior high or middle high school principals admitting that bullying or harassment is a “serious problem” at their school.

Bullying is destructive to the victim, the bully and the witnesses. After the 1999 attack at Columbine High School,   Colorado launched a multi million dollar statewide study to learn more about this ugly social problem and how to stop it. It is thought that the two perpetrators had long been the victims of bullying at Columbine. Since then, school security nationwide has changed and a 2008 study about bullying is online and can be seen by Googling “Colorado Trust.” Highlights of their findings are:

·      In schools where anti-bullying action has been taken by timely fair intervention of students and teachers with bullies, there entire school is blessed with higher academic achievement!

·      The effects of bullying can last a lifetime.

·      Victims have lower self esteem, inability to connect socially and an increased chance of academic failure.

·      Bullies often end up having criminal problems in later life.

In 2008 the Florida legislature adopted a new Anti Bullying Law. Important provisions of the laws make sure the parents of the victim are regularly told what steps are being taken to protect the victim, and that the bully is referred to counseling. 

The Flagler County School Board has policies against bullying, including cyber bullying. Its website invites anyone to report bullying when it is witnessed. A student who violates the anti bullying policies at school can be disciplined which may include expulsion from school. A student is considered at school even when using school transportation (school bus). If a student is being bullied or witnesses bullying, he should always tell an adult at the school.

A school which fails to provide reasonable supervision from dangers like bullying opens itself up to lawsuits. If the school knows that certain kids are bullies and ignores the problems they are causing, it is not only bad for the victims but indirectly everyone in the school can suffer academically.   Parents have to send their kids to school, or educate them at home. If the school does not provide a safe education and your child is victimized stand up for them. That’s your job. Kids feel all alone when they are bullied, and do not want to report being bullied because it may hurt them socially. It will hurt them more if they are not protected. 

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 I was asked by a client about a letter he got in the mail from Florida Department of HIghway Safety and Motor vehicles.  DMV is the official agency in charge of driver's licenses and driving tests. He was in a minor car accident nearly a year ago.  No one was injured, and the other driver caused the accident.   The letter politely says he "needs to take the test(s) at the driver's license office listed below..."  If he flunks,  his license will have to be given up.  If he refuses to get tested he loses his license. Can this really be the law?

I looked into this situation to see if I could be of any help.  My client is an older gentleman and is very concerned about the loss of his driver's license.  He needs it to maintain his independence.  Here is what I found in the Florida statues:

• If DMV has "good cause" to believe a licensed driver is incompetent to drive it may on at least 5 day's notice require any driver to submit to an examination.  "Good cause" includes a bad driving record or a report under FS 322.126
• Under  FS 322.126 anyone "having knowledge of any licensed driver's mental or physical disability to drive can report such knowledge" to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles;
• The reports are confidential, and are not subject to Florida's Public records laws, so they cannot be obtained.  This makes the names of those reporting and the contents immune from a subpoena.
• Any doctor,  law enforcement agent, or other person who turns in a person suspected of being unable to safely drive a car is immune from a lawsuit.

Interestingly, according to DMV's published statistics more than 10% of all driver's in Florida are over the age of 70.  Most accidents are caused by teenagers, however, and they represent only 5% of the driving population. 

I suppose this law is necessary to encourage people, especially family members and treating physicians, to turn in drivers who they suspect are driving hazards either to themselves or to others.  In a perfect world there would be no accidents, and incompetent drivers would voluntarily surrender their licenses.  But we don't live in that world, so laws like this are unfortunately needed.  I am not aware of any abuse of reports, and hope they are few and far between.

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