Miami Injury Attorney Blog

The Costa Concordia cruise accident will have a lasting effect on the victims, as they cope with the sheer trauma of surviving a terrifying and life-threatening event. The ship, which struck rocks and capsized off the Italian island of Giglio on January 13, still rests on the bottom as rescue crews search for survivors. The skyscraper-sized ship, which had more than 4,200 passengers and crew aboard, had been on a typical voyage through the Mediterranean at the time of the accident. More than 11 people have been found dead and more remain missing.

Rarely do passengers of cruise ships endure such trauma, according to Hector Lombana of Miami law firm of Gamba & Lombana, based in the same city as Costa-parent Carnival Cruise Lines. Cruise accidents are common and the litigation of injuries and crimes aboard cruise ships involving both passengers and crewmembers is a cottage industry in Miami, where many of the lines are based. However, according to Lombana, the Costa Concordia sinking will impact many more passengers than the typical cruise ship accident.

"We have represented victims of travel incidents, such as cruise accidents and airplane crashes, where the mental and psychological damages far outweigh any physical injuries," said Lombana. "The feeling of helplessness and the intense feeling of hopelessness can lead to major emotional trauma and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. We have seen it in cruise cases, airline crashes and other large-scale tragedies."

Lombana points to the many heart-wrenching accounts of the Concordia grounding which will have a lasting impact on the victims.

"Hearing victims tell stories of lost children and helpless elderly passengers fighting for their lives leads me to believe that extreme emotional distress will be the largest byproduct of the sinking," said Lombana. "In addition, many survivors are further traumatized when they realize how close they came to death and struggle with understanding why they lived and others perished."

"The psychological damages are further intensified by the survivor's inability to help those trapped in the ship or in life threatening ocean conditions." Lombana added.

The cruise ship accident attorneys of Gamba & Lombana have experience in trying cases where cruise lines were negligent in providing a safe environment for passengers and have represented many victims of physical and emotional tragedies like the Costa Concordia sinking.

Late last year, West Palm Beach Judge Nelson Bailey underwent surgery, expecting to be alleviated from the discomfort of an intestinal condition. After surgery, the pain not only persisted, it increased. Doctors performed multiple CT scans, none of which picked up the foot-long by foot-wide surgical sponge that had been left inside of him. After five months of distress, the sponge was identified, doctors operated again and removed the sponge along with part of Bailey's intestine which had been severely damaged by the festering sponge.

The judge was a victim of medical negligence and is currently suing the doctors who performed the initial surgery, after reaching a settlement with the hospital. Bailey has come out of the incident with a new take on tort reform; he'd like to see caps placed on medical malpractice damage awards lifted.

The missed sponge was not the only problem the judge encountered during his hospital stay. After the surgery, the hospital's pharmacy reportedly incorrectly dispensed a drug which was supposed to lower his blood pressure; instead it sent his heart racing and Bailey said it nearly gave him a heart attack. The problem was corrected and no lasting effects were caused by it.

Continue reading "Sponge Found Inside of a Florida Judge After Surgery" »

The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration last week announced that I-95, the interstate that runs through Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, is the deadliest road in the country. It is estimated that fatal accidents occurred at a rate of 1.73 per mile on the entire 382-mile freeway from 2004-2008. But even though that number is alarmingly high, it would appear that deaths related to car accidents are falling since 2005. In 2005, 599 people died on all Miami-Dade and Broward roads, but that number dropped to 499 by 2008. Statewide, 3,533 people died in fatal car accidents in 2005, a number that dropped to 2,982 in 2008.

The car and truck accident attorneys of Gamba & Lombana have experience in trying cases where drivers and passengers suffer injuries because of the negligence and carelessness of others. The ongoing public awareness campaign that looks to curb the dangerous practice of text messaging while driving has certainly helped to make the roads safer, but accidents by reckless, intoxicated or distracted drivers still can cause fatalities.

Continue reading "Miami-Dade and Broward Home to the Deadliest Road in the United States" »

Last month, the Sacramento Superior Court handed down a $29 million verdict in the wrongful death lawsuit of an elderly woman who died as a result of a nursing home failing to provide adequate care. The 79-year-old died from untreated bedsores. Her death followed a slip and fall accident at the nursing home that caused her to break her hip.

Nursing homes in Miami-Dade and Broward offer a service that allows elderly and sick patients to receive healthcare services in a professional manner. Unfortunately, there are still many instances where abuse and negligence happens at the hands of nursing home professionals - even though Florida and federal laws have been passed to try to prevent it. Nursing homes and assisted living facilities are suppose to provide 24-hour supervision and a safe, secure place for the elderly to live in peace.

The nursing home and elder abuse attorneys of Gamba & Lombana have seen abuse by nursing homes happen in a variety of ways, including physical, verbal and sexual, improper medication administered, theft of personal property, and unsanitary conditions.

Continue reading "Negligence at Nursing Home Leads to $29 Million Verdict" »

Last month, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, introduced a bill that would ban the sale of baby cribs throughout the country, including in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. Since 2000, these defective cribs, that feature a movable side rail, have been attributed to the deaths of at least 32 infants and toddlers and suspected in the deaths of 14 others from suffocation and strangulation.

In the past five years, more than seven million drop-side defective cribs have been recalled, and many larger retailers like Wal-Mart have already discontinued selling them. Unfortunately, many defective and dangerous cribs can still be found for sale on the Internet, and in use in day care centers. The Consumer Product Safety Commission hopes to have the ban in place by the end of year.

When a consumer purchases a product for their child, he or she believes that what they are buying is a product that adheres to the highest safety standards and that it won't harm, or worse, kill their infant. Lately, it seems that too many defective child products - cribs, strollers, medicine - are injuring our youngsters. It is an incredibly traumatic experience to have a child injured or killed by a faulty or defective product, an experience no person should have to endure.

Continue reading "Cribs sold throughout South Florida may be banned under new legislation" »

A man who was aboard the Staten Island Ferry that crashed into a pier last month has filed a lawsuit against the City of New York for $5 million for injuries suffered. The ferry boat accident injured more than three dozen passengers. In 2003, the same ferry boat malfunctioned and was involved in a similar accident, resulting in the death 11 people and injuring a dozen others.

As residents of South Florida, we are fortunate enough to be able to enjoy a multitude of water related activities. Recreational boating, jet skiing, charter fishing, and leisure boat tours are all ways that Miami-Dade and Broward county residents, and its visitors, can enjoy the Atlantic Ocean and its beaches.

With the summer in full swing though, boating and water vessel accidents are an unfortunate reality - whether by human error or mechanical failure. News stories about accidents caused by negligent behavior are unusually common, and South Florida residents and tourists need to be aware that they have rights if a regrettable situation should happen.

Continue reading "Boating Accident Leads to $5 Million Lawsuit Against City" »

Medical malpractice in South Florida often results in doctors having to face penalties from their medical associations. Last week, the Florida Board of Medicine levied a $5,000 fine on a Coral Springs surgeon Bernard Zaragoza for removing a patient's healthy kidney instead of his gallbladder during an operation in 2007. The surgery took place in Broward county's Northwest Medical Center, and the patient died three weeks later because of heart failure. While the board found that the doctor was not being careless or inept, it could not dismiss the case because a state hearing officer issued a ruling that said removal of a kidney is not a complication of gallbladder surgery, as the doctor's attorney had argued. The 83-year-old patient had an unusual anatomy - his kidney was located where his gallbladder should have been.

A Northwest Medical Center administrator was forced to report the wrong-organ removal to the Agency for Health Care Administration, a requirement for serious errors. The AHCA then notified the Department of Health.

Continue reading "Broward Surgeon Fined for Removing Healthy Kidney Instead of Gallbladder" »

Last month, the Miami medical malpractice attorneys of Gamba & Lombana filed a lawsuit against the University of Miami on behalf of a victim of alleged hospital negligence. The lawsuit stated that University of Miami doctors at Jackson Memorial Hospital/University of Miami Medical Center failed to give proper post-operative care to Pablo Portieles. Portieles, who initially was treated for a gunshot wound, was placed in a post-operative care unit where his deteriorating condition, including an injured spleen, went unrecognized and untreated by physicians. This led to Portieles to go into a cardio-pulmonary arrest causing permanent brain damage. He is currently in a minimally conscious state and is residing at a rehabilitative facility where he remains bedridden and unable to speak, walk, eat or perform any daily living activities.

The medical negligence lawsuit names the University of Miami, various physicians, and the Public Health Trust of Miami-Dade County, the governing body of Jackson Memorial Hospital. Damages are sought for Portieles' injuries and for the past and future suffering of his wife.

Continue reading "South Florida Medical Malpractice Attorneys File Lawsuit Against University of Miami on Behalf of Comatose Patient" »

After enduring nearly 10 years of permanent pain, a crippled arm, a limp and a 4-inch fluid-filled cavity in her spinal cord, Kathleen Ramey and her husband were awarded $36 million last week by a Palm Beach Circuit Court jury. In 2000, Ramey went to West Palm Beach pain doctor Andrew Weiss because she suffered from chronic neck pain that resulted from a car accident. Weiss injected a steroid directly into her spinal cord instead of the epidural space - causing irreversible damage. Ramey and her husband subsequently filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctor. The Deerfield Beach couple now must battle Weiss' insurance company for the money. Weiss, who lost his medical license but faced no criminal charges in connection with the incident, is serving a 12-year sentence in federal prison for the illegal sale of pain medication.

A victim of medical malpractice can have their lives ruined as in the case with Ramey. She was a stay-at-home mother who at the time of incident did not qualify for Social Security disability benefits. The tragedy put a lot of strain on her family emotionally and financially as medical expenses started to mount.

Medical negligence takes a toll not only on the victim but also on his or her family. The personal injury attorneys of Gamba & Lombana feel victims who are affected by the negligence of those in the healthcare profession need to be justly compensated so that they may live normal lives.

Continue reading "West Palm Beach Jury Awards $36 Million to Victim of Medical Malpractice" »

Former Miami Dolphins wide receiver O.J. McDuffie was awarded $11.5 million by a Miami-Dade County jury after it was determined that an improperly handled injury ended his professional career. McDuffie, who calls South Florida home, filed a professional malpractice suit against former team physician John Uribe after the doctor allegedly told McDuffie he could play even though MRIs showed severe tendon damage to McDuffie's big toe. The jury awarded $10 million for lost earnings and $1.5 million for anguish. The nine-year veteran was first injured in 1999.

With more than 30 years of experience handling medical and professional malpractice cases, the attorneys of Gamba & Lombana have seen many instances where physicians have misdiagnosed or erroneously advised patients. It is important that patients seek a second, and even a third, medical opinion before engaging in treatments or operations that may cause more harm than good. A doctor who reviews a case with a fresh set of eyes may see things missed by the original physician, potentially saving the patient from unnecessary pain and anguish. Patients should also do as much research as possible on their ailment, ask as many questions as possible (no question is too small), and if possible, take a relative or trusted friend to all consultations.

Continue reading "Former Miami Dolphin Awarded $11.5 million in Malpractice Suit" »

Last week, actor Dennis Quaid released his documentary called "Chasing Zero: Winning the War on Healthcare Harm," which aired in homes across South Florida and the country on the Discovery Channel. Quaid, whose newborn twins nearly died as a result of medical malpractice at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, has set out to raise awareness of problems America faces with medical errors. His twins were accidentally given an overdose of the blood thinner heparin. He has described himself as the "front man" for this campaign and believes that implementing safe practices can result in less medical errors and safer patients. Quaid believes accountability, like that faced by the aviation industry when accidents happen, may help shed light on the estimated 200,000 avoidable medical-error deaths that occur each year.

The medical malpractice attorneys at Gamba & Lombana have seen dozens of cases involving medical errors at hospitals across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. One case, in Hillsborough County at the H. Lee Moffit Cancer Center & Research Institute, involved a patient who allegedly received excessive amounts of radiation treatment due to an improperly calibrated machine. That case received local media attention, but unfortunately many don't. Many patients suffer from the negligence of hospitals, but the general public never learns of these mistakes. We applaud Mr. Quaid for his efforts to raise awareness on medical errors through this documentary and for his fight to improve patient safety.

Continue reading "Actor Dennis Quaid releases "medical mistakes" documentary in South Florida and across country" »

Recently, the Wall Street Journal published an article about the new approach that hospitals across the country, including in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, are taking to avert errors. Such errors are all too common according to the Miami medical malpractice attorneys of Gamba & Lombana.

Statistics provided by the Food and Drug Administration reveal that "errors made by doctors, nurses and other medical caregivers cause 44,000 to 98,000 deaths a year. Hospital infections, take another 100,000 lives. And mistakes involving medications injure 1.3 million patients annually in the United States."

With the help from the National Quality Forum (a government-advisory body that sets safety standards for hospitals), some hospitals are beginning to rethink the way they manage nurses and doctors who have made unintentional errors. Instead of treating them like criminals, they are handling them more like traumatized patients who require care - and then involving them in the administration's investigation of what went wrong. The reasoning is that a hospital can learn from a staffer's mistake so that the same error does not happen again.

Four years ago, a nurse mistook a bag of epidural painkiller for penicillin and hooked it up to an IV line that pumped the painkiller into the bloodstream of a 16-year-old mother-to-be as she was giving birth. The patient died and the nurse was fired. The nurse later faced criminal charges brought on by the state. A study of this case, led by researchers from the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, revealed that system flaws at the hospital may have contributed to the nurse's mistake. Criminal charges against the nurse were later amended to two misdemeanor counts after a plea agreement.

The WSJ article found that hospital administrators are looking for ways to address risky behavior of health care practitioners before it leads to serious consequences for patients.

Continue reading "Hospitals in South Florida and across the country reexamine approach in hospital errors" »

In South Florida, cycling accidents involving motorists are frequent and dangerous, according to the Miami accident attorneys of Gamba & Lombana. In January, 44-year-old Christophe Le Canne lost his life after he was run down in a hit-and-run accident on the Rickenbacker Causeway in route to Key Biscayne. Le Canne was hit from behind by Carlos Bertonatti, a 28-year-old who police have filed multiple felony charges against, including DUI manslaughter. It was reported that Bertonatti drove away with from the scene of the accident with Le Canne's bicycle still stuck underneath his car. Further compounding the problem: Witnesses said it took Miami-Dade Fire Rescue nearly 20 minutes to arrive on the scene.

This latest accident has once again reopened the discussion about the need for making South Florida more bicycle friendly. Aggressive and negligent drivers make the streets of Miami-Dade and Broward county some of the most dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians alike. In 2008, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported 490 pedestrians died in traffic accidents in the state of Florida, and the U.S. Department of Transportation named Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach as the third most dangerous metropolitan area for pedestrians.

Continue reading "Cyclists and pedestrians need to be careful on the streets of South Florida" »

Last month, a 51-year-old truck driver died as a result of a two-truck accident on Interstate 75 in Pembroke Pines, Florida. According to Florida Highway Patrol, the two trucks were going westbound on I-75, when one truck rammed the other causing the accident. The truck quickly was consumed by a fire, resulting in the death of the driver. Fortunately, there were no injuries to innocent occupants of passenger cars.

Due the high rates of speed and the size and weight of these trucks, trucking accidents can oftentimes have disastrous and fatal results for all parties involved. The situation is sometimes compounded because of the reckless and careless nature of the drivers. They are, at times, pressured to deliver goods and may be sleep-deprived or distracted by cell phone or mobile device use. Further, the truck's cargo may not be secured properly, or its payload may be more than its allowed capacity, making the vehicle even more dangerous. The Miami-based truck accident attorneys of Gamba & Lombana are all well aware of the hazards these trucks present to innocent drivers on the streets of South Florida.

Continue reading "Man in Pembroke Pines, Florida killed in trucking accident" »

A lawsuit was filed in the case of the death by suicide of a Broward 30-year-old man whose family alleges became addicted to painkillers and anti-anxiety drugs that were supplied in excessive quantities by a Fort Lauderdale doctor and his pain clinic.

The lawsuit alleges that Dr. Michael Lazzopina of the Fort Lauderdale Pain Relief Center turned his patient, Benjamin Eiseman, into a drug addict with prescriptions for a constant flow of addictive painkillers and anxiety drugs from 2005 to 2008. Eiseman committed suicide with an overdose of pills prescribed from the pain clinic for his back pain. The drugs included oxycodone, which the suit indicates was prescribed months before the doctor received test results to verify the injury.

According to the lawsuit, Dr. Lazzopina failed to exercise the proper standard of care and reduce the oxycodone dosage after Eiseman's condition improved. It also appears that the doctor erred by never referring his patient to a drug addiction specialist. A December article on the case from The Miami Herald indicates that the doctor, who specializes in urology, advertises detoxification treatments for drug addicts and pain-management treatments in local newspapers. The article also states that the Fort Lauderdale Pain Relief Center is owned by Integra Health Services, a company whose founders also created an MRI facility in eastern Kentucky, which it says has become "a hotbed of illegal trafficking of painkillers from South Florida pain clinics."

Doctors who prescribe addictive painkillers and anxiety drugs owe a duty to their patients and the public to take adequate precautions to help ensure that their patients do not become addicted to the medications. During the last several years, South Florida has become one of the country's chief suppliers of black-market painkillers, and Broward alone is home to 33 of the 50 doctors who dispense the most oxycodone in the country, according to data from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. As this trend continues, our attorneys will continue to offer free and confidential consultations to the victims and their families of these unscrupulous healthcare providers who put profits over the health and wellness of their patients.