When a family believes medical care caused a death or a serious injury, the first questions are always the same: What happened during that procedure? Who decided what, and when? Reporting by NBC 6 South Florida this month — on families demanding answers after patient deaths following surgery at a Miami plastic surgery clinic, reported as at least the sixth such death connected to that clinic since 2018 — shows how hard those answers can be to get. In Florida medical malpractice claims, the answers live in the medical record. Getting the complete record, early and in writing, is the most important first step.

A Bad Outcome Alone Is Not Malpractice

Medicine carries real risks, and a poor result alone does not prove negligence. A Florida claim requires proof that care fell below the prevailing professional standard of care — what a reasonably careful provider in the same specialty would have done — and that the failure caused the injury. That is why these cases turn on records and expert review: the chart lets a qualified expert compare what was done against what should have been done.

Request the Complete Chart — Not Just the Portal Summary

Most patients see only a patient-portal summary: visit notes, a discharge sheet, and test results. The complete chart is much larger, and it is the version that matters. It can include operative and anesthesia reports, nursing notes, medication records, vital-sign data, laboratory and imaging studies, consent forms, and orders and progress notes. Details that never appear in a summary — exact times, dosages, who was notified and when — are often where a timeline is won or lost.

Florida law gives patients a right to obtain copies of their records, and federal law reinforces that right. Put the request in writing, ask for the complete chart including nursing and anesthesia records, and keep a copy of the request. If a facility is slow or produces records with gaps, document that too.

Build Your Own Timeline While You Wait

Records show what providers documented. Your own notes capture what they may not have. Write down the dates of each appointment and procedure, the symptoms you reported, what you were told, who was involved, and how your condition changed. Keep bills, prescription bottles, pharmacy printouts, imaging discs, and portal messages. Do not write on the original records — work from copies.

The Deadlines: Two Years, Four Years, Seven Years

Florida’s deadlines are strict and layered. Generally, a claim must be commenced within two years from when the incident occurred or was discovered — or should have been discovered with reasonable diligence. Regardless of discovery, a statute of repose generally bars claims more than four years after the incident. Where fraud, concealment, or intentional misrepresentation prevented discovery, the period can extend, but never beyond seven years, and claims for young children generally may be brought up to the child’s eighth birthday.

On top of those deadlines sits Florida’s Chapter 766 pre-suit process: before a lawsuit may be filed, the claim must be investigated, supported by a verified written opinion from a qualified medical expert, and presented through a notice of intent that starts a 90-day investigation period. That takes time — waiting to request records can quietly consume the time needed to use them.

What If the Provider Says You Were Partly to Blame?

Providers and insurers sometimes argue that a patient contributed to the harm — for example, by delaying follow-up care or not following instructions exactly. Medical malpractice is the exception to Florida’s general fault rule. While most Florida negligence claims follow modified comparative negligence, medical malpractice claims under Chapter 766 still follow pure comparative negligence: any fault assigned to the patient reduces the recovery by that percentage, but does not bar the claim entirely, even if the patient’s share is large. Whether any such argument fits the documented record is, again, a question the chart and an expert help answer.

What to Do Next

1. Get follow-up medical care first — your health comes before any claim, and a second provider’s records often clarify what happened.
2. Request the complete chart in writing from every provider and facility involved, and keep proof of each request.
3. Write your timeline while memories are fresh, and gather bills, prescriptions, and portal messages.
4. Do not sign authorizations, releases, or statements for a provider’s insurer before you understand what they cover.
5. Have the records reviewed promptly — the expert review and pre-suit steps Florida requires cannot be done at the last minute.

If you or a loved one suffered a serious injury that may have been caused by medical negligence in Miami-Dade or Broward County, Tacher Law offers free consultations for medical malpractice and other personal injury matters. Call (305) 644-2211 or visit our contact page to discuss your situation.

Tacher Law, 16445 Collins Avenue, Suite 1625, Sunny Isles Beach, FL 33160.