FL: Routine Hospital Sip and Fall Case: Medical Malpractice Standards Do Not Apply.

CASE FACTS: While Betty Clarke was a patient at Lake Shore Hospital she fell when she walked from her hospital bed to the bathroom. As a result of the fall, Mrs. Clarke allegedly sustained personal injuries. Mrs. Clarke and her husband brought suit against the hospital to recover damages for the injuries sustained. Under Florida law, plaintiffs in medical malpractice cases are mandated to follow pre-suit requirements before proceeding with medical malpractice suits. The Clarkes' complaint did not comply with the pre-suit requirements. The hospital filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on the grounds that the Clarkes failed to follow the mandated pre-suit requirements in Florida Law. The trial court denied the hospital's motion to dismiss finding that the complaint did not provide a basis to apply the pre-suit conditions required in medical malpractice cases. The hospital filed a petition for a Writ of Certiorari.

COURT'S OPINION: The District Court of Appeal of Florida denied the hospital's petition for Certiorari. The court held, inter alia, that the hospital failed to demonstrate that the lower court acted without or in excess of its jurisdiction or that its order departed from the essential requirements of the law. The court held that the test for determining whether the defendant is entitled to the benefit of pre-suit screening requirements is whether the defendant is liable under the negligence standard set forth in the statute. The court found that the pre-suit requirements do not apply to "slip and fall" negligence suits arising on the premises of a medical care provider. The plaintiff distinguished this case from one relied on by the hospital, Neilinger v. Baptist Hospital of Miami, Inc., 460 So. 2d 564 (1994). The court noted that the complaint in Neilinger alleged that the plaintiff, Neilinger, a maternity patient, "slipped and fell on a pool of amniotic fluid while descending from an examination table under the direction and care of employees of the hospital" and hence, the complaint in Neilinger, "on its face alleged a breach of a professional standard of care." However, the applicable standard of care in this case was ordinary negligence. The fact that the slip and fall occurred in a hospital did not trigger the law or other pre suit requirements which would have been triggered if the fall involved medical malpractice. Accordingly, the Supreme Court of Florida let the order of the lower court stand. All too often we are led, or misled, to believe that just because a health care provider or facility is the site of a fall, ipso facto, medical malpractice is involved. That is simply not the case. Lake Shore Hospital v. Clarke, No. 1D00-1151 (Fla. App. 10/17/2000)

Meet the Editor & Publisher: A. David Tammelleo, JD, is a nationally recognized authority on health care law. Practicing law for nearly 40 years, he concentrates in health care law with the Providence, R.I., firm of A. David Tammelleo & Associates. He has presented seminars on medical, nursing and hospital law throughout the United States. In addition to his writings as Editor of Medical Law's, Nursing Law's & Hospital Law's Reagan Reports, his legal articles have been published in the most prestigious health law journals. A prolific writer, his thousands of articles, as well as his achievements as an attorney and lecturer, have won him recognition in Martindale-Hubbell's Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers and Marquis. Who's Who in American Law.