Broward County is home to a large and sophisticated healthcare infrastructure. Broward Health operates four major hospitals — Broward Health Medical Center, Broward Health North, Broward Health Imperial Point, and Broward Health Coral Springs — serving the county's 1.9 million residents. Memorial Health System operates Memorial Regional Hospital, Memorial Hospital West, Memorial Hospital Miramar, and Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital. Cleveland Clinic Florida in Weston is a nationally recognized specialty hospital. Holy Cross Health, Plantation General Hospital, and dozens of surgical centers and specialty practices round out the county's medical landscape.

The size and reputation of these institutions does not make them immune to error. Medical malpractice — negligent care that causes serious harm — occurs at hospitals and medical facilities of every size and standing. When it does, the consequences for patients and families can be devastating and permanent.

Medical malpractice in Florida is a failure by a healthcare provider to meet the accepted standard of care — what a reasonably competent provider in the same specialty would have done under the same or similar circumstances — that causes injury to a patient.

Proving medical malpractice requires establishing:

1. Duty — the treatment relationship established a duty of care
2. Breach — the provider failed to meet the applicable standard of care
3. Causation — the breach caused the patient's injury
4. Damages — the patient suffered compensable harm

Florida's medical malpractice statute requires a pre-suit investigation period and a verified written medical expert opinion before a lawsuit can be filed. These requirements make early legal consultation essential — the procedural clock starts running from the date of the incident or discovery of the injury.

Broward County's hospitals and outpatient surgical centers perform thousands of procedures annually. Surgical errors — wrong-site surgery, retained instruments, nerve damage, anesthesia errors, and post-operative infection — are among the most serious forms of medical malpractice. Cleveland Clinic Florida's high surgical volume in complex specialty procedures creates specific exposure in cardiac, neurological, and orthopedic surgery.

Delayed or missed diagnosis of cancer — breast, colon, lung, prostate — is one of the leading causes of medical malpractice claims in Broward County. A delayed diagnosis can mean the difference between a treatable early-stage cancer and an advanced, terminal disease. Failure to diagnose stroke, heart attack, pulmonary embolism, and sepsis are equally serious.

Broward Health Medical Center and Memorial Regional Hospital operate Level II trauma centers with high-volume emergency departments. Triage errors, failure to order appropriate diagnostic tests, premature discharge, and medication errors in the emergency setting cause serious harm to patients who are already in a vulnerable condition.

Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital at Memorial is the primary pediatric facility in Broward County. Pediatric malpractice cases — involving misdiagnosis, surgical errors, medication dosing errors, and birth injuries — require expert review by pediatric specialists and involve damages that extend over a child's lifetime.

Birth injuries at Broward County hospitals — including hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), brachial plexus injuries, and delivery-related trauma — are a significant category of medical malpractice claims. These cases are addressed in detail below.

Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy is brain injury caused by oxygen deprivation during or around the time of birth. HIE can result in cerebral palsy, intellectual disability, seizure disorders, developmental delays, and other permanent neurological conditions. In severe cases, HIE causes death.

HIE is often preventable. The most common causes involve failures in obstetric and nursing care during labor and delivery.

Electronic fetal monitoring during labor produces heart rate patterns that indicate fetal wellbeing or distress. Late decelerations, variable decelerations, prolonged decelerations, and loss of variability are warning signs that require prompt evaluation and intervention. A nursing or obstetric team that fails to recognize or respond to these patterns — or that fails to escalate to a physician in a timely manner — may be responsible for the resulting HIE.

When fetal monitoring indicates a baby is in distress, the standard of care may require an emergency cesarean section. The time from decision to incision in a true emergency C-section is a critical metric. Delays caused by failure to recognize urgency, communication failures between nursing and obstetric staff, or inadequate surgical team availability can result in prolonged oxygen deprivation and permanent brain injury.

Umbilical cord prolapse, nuchal cord, and placental abruption are obstetric emergencies that require immediate recognition and response. The obstetric team's management of these complications — and the speed of that management — is often central to an HIE malpractice claim.

Shoulder dystocia — when a baby's shoulder becomes lodged behind the mother's pubic bone during delivery — requires specific obstetric maneuvers to resolve safely. Improper technique can cause brachial plexus injuries (Erb's palsy), fractures, and oxygen deprivation. These injuries are preventable with proper training and technique.

Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood is one of the highest-volume delivery hospitals in Broward County. Broward Health Medical Center and the other Broward Health facilities also deliver significant numbers of babies annually. The volume of deliveries, combined with staffing patterns and the complexity of high-risk obstetric cases, creates conditions where birth injury malpractice occurs.

Broward Health, as a public hospital system, involves specific procedural considerations for malpractice claims. Claims against public hospitals in Florida are subject to sovereign immunity limits and require compliance with specific notice requirements. An attorney should evaluate these claims promptly.

Florida's medical malpractice statute imposes a mandatory pre-suit process:

1. Notice of intent to initiate litigation must be served on each prospective defendant
2. A 90-day investigation period follows
3. A verified written medical expert opinion supporting the claim must be obtained before the notice is served
4. The defendant may offer to settle, reject the claim, or admit liability during the investigation period

The statute of limitations for medical malpractice in Florida is generally two years from the date the incident was discovered or should have been discovered, with an absolute four-year cap from the date of the incident (with limited exceptions).

For birth injury HIE cases, the statute of limitations for a child's claim does not begin to run until the child turns 18 — but early investigation is strongly advisable to preserve evidence and witness availability.

Request your complete medical records immediately. You are entitled to your records under Florida law. Request them from every provider involved in your care.

Do not sign any releases or accept any payments from the hospital or its insurer without consulting an attorney.

Document your symptoms and treatment. Keep a journal of your symptoms, treatments, and how the injury has affected your daily life.

Consult a Broward medical malpractice attorney promptly. The pre-suit process, the expert opinion requirement, and the statute of limitations all make early legal consultation essential.

• Medical expenses — past and future treatment costs
• Lost wages and lost earning capacity
• Pain and suffering
• Disability and disfigurement
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• For HIE and birth injury cases — lifetime care costs, special education, assistive technology, and home modification
• Wrongful death damages — see our Wrongful Death Lawyer Florida

If you or a family member was harmed by medical negligence anywhere in Broward County — at Broward Health, Memorial Regional, Joe DiMaggio Children's, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Holy Cross, or any other hospital or medical facility — Juan Cordero Lawyers can evaluate your claim, obtain the necessary expert review, and fight for the full compensation your injuries deserve. Contact us for a free consultation.

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