Florida Delayed Diagnosis Malpractice

by Needle & Ellenberg, P.A.

If you suspect a Florida doctor or hospital missed or delayed a diagnosis and serious harm resulted, you may have a medical malpractice claim. Delayed diagnosis cases can share a common structure. A diagnosis may have been reachable earlier with the exercise of ordinary care, but the window closed before anyone made it. The specifics of each case are different. Cancer cases, cardiac cases, sepsis cases, and infection cases each can have their own clinical and causation challenges.

Needle & Ellenberg, P.A. has spent decades litigating Florida delayed diagnosis malpractice cases. We know what may separate a viable claim from one that may not survive the Gooding causation test under Florida law. Our case evaluations are free.

Why Choose Needle & Ellenberg, P.A.

Founding partners Andrew Needle and Andrew Ellenberg bring more than 70 years of combined experience in Florida medical negligence and plaintiffs’ injury law. Both handle plaintiffs’ injury and death cases exclusively.

Practice Focus

Andrew Ellenberg focuses on plaintiffs’ injury and medical negligence cases, with practice concentrations that include misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis claims, cancer cases, stroke and neurological injury, sepsis, and anesthesia complications. He earned his J.D. cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law in 1988. Martindale-Hubbell rates him AV Preeminent. Florida Super Lawyers has listed him every year since 2005, and The Best Lawyers in America has listed him every year since 2009 for plaintiffs’ medical malpractice and personal injury work.

Andrew Needle is Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by The Florida Bar. His practice concentrations include misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis claims, cancer cases, and complex medical negligence involving multiple providers and missed findings. He holds a J.D. cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law (1977) and a B.S. from Cornell University (1974). He is a charter member of the Miami chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates. Best Lawyers in America named him “Lawyer of the Year” for Medical Malpractice Law, Plaintiffs, in Miami for 2020 and 2025.

Verdicts and Settlements

Needle & Ellenberg, P.A. has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for clients across all practice areas, including multiple eight-figure results in medical malpractice matters. Many of the healthcare cases involved birth injuries, delayed diagnosis, surgical errors, anesthesia complications, and health system negligence. Our fees are contingent. You pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you.

What Our Clients Say

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“Mr Ellenberg was great. He was brought in on our case due to his knowledge of the situation we had going on. His straight forward no bs approach is exactly what you want on your side. He put in the time and dug into things we would have never thought about and was able to find and provide everything needed for us to get everything done!”

 – Garrett Milam

Types of Delayed Diagnosis Cases We Handle in Florida

According to the National Academies report “Improving Diagnosis in Health Care,” most U.S. adults may experience at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime, and failure to diagnose can account for the largest share of medical malpractice claims nationally. The categories below cover the clinical contexts where we see delayed diagnosis allegations most often.

• Obstetrical care delayed. Delays in delivering a baby can result in brain damage and physical damage to babies and their mothers. Delays in labor and delivery care can cause brain injury from inadequate oxygen, infection, and physical injury to the nerves that power the baby’s extremities.
• Cancer delayed diagnosis. Missed or delayed diagnosis of lung, breast, colorectal, prostate, and skin cancers can be among the most common delayed diagnosis claims in Florida. Typical miss points may include misread mammograms, abnormal PSA or blood work not followed up, concerning lung nodules on imaging that go unreviewed, and failure to perform or follow up on colonoscopies. The clinical consequence may be a diagnosis at a later stage, which can reduce treatment options and survival probability.
• Cardiac event delayed diagnosis. Acute myocardial infarctions are sometimes sent home from emergency departments, particularly in women, younger patients, and patients presenting with atypical symptoms. Aortic dissection can present with features that overlap with other conditions and may be missed on initial evaluation. Serial troponins, EKG interpretation, and imaging decisions can drive these cases.
• Sepsis delayed diagnosis. Sepsis can progress from infection to organ failure on a clock measured in hours. Missed or delayed sepsis recognition, whether in the ED, on a hospital floor, or in post-surgical care, may be a recurring source of delayed diagnosis claims. Vital signs, labs, and mental status may all line up before the chart fully acknowledges the emergency.
• Pulmonary embolism delayed diagnosis. PE can present variably, from mild shortness of breath to collapse. ED workup decisions, D-dimer interpretation, and CT imaging choices can be the clinical pressure points.
• Stroke diagnosis delayed or missed. Delayed stroke diagnosis in an emergency department is a distinct subcategory with its own clinical and legal considerations.
• Emergency department reassessment failures. Florida AHCA investigations have documented institutional patterns of inadequate ED reassessment. In one documented AdventHealth Tampa finding, 15 of 20 sampled emergency department patients lacked documented reassessments after initial triage. Reassessment failure can be a recurring pattern in ED delayed-diagnosis cases where a patient’s condition deteriorated while waiting for care.
• Surgery delayed or opportunity missed. Appendicitis sent home as gastroenteritis, ectopic pregnancy diagnosed too late, and bacterial meningitis mistaken for a viral illness can produce catastrophic consequences. These cases may involve clinical presentations that were dismissed or a single diagnostic study that was not ordered.

Florida Legal Requirements for Delayed Diagnosis Malpractice

Every Florida delayed diagnosis claim has to meet the Florida medical malpractice laws that apply to medical negligence actions, which includes proving a breach of the standard of care, causation, and damages.

Standard of Care

Florida law defines the standard of care as what a reasonably prudent health care provider would have done under the circumstances. The standard is specialty-specific. What is expected of a radiologist reading a scan is not what is expected of a primary care physician, and neither is what is expected of an emergency physician evaluating acute symptoms. That specialty framing matters when multiple providers across multiple encounters contributed to the injury.

That specialty framing matters because delayed diagnosis cases typically involve multiple providers across multiple encounters, and the liability analysis has to identify which provider had the information, the role, and the duty to act.

Proving Causation: Florida’s “More Likely Than Not” Rule

To prevail, the claimant has to prove that earlier diagnosis would more likely than not have changed the outcome. Florida does not recognize a “loss of chance.” Negligence has to have probably caused the plaintiff’s/patient’s injury or death.

In cancer cases, that may typically mean showing through qualified medical opinion that earlier detection at an earlier stage would more likely than not have resulted in meaningful clinical improvement or survival. In cardiac cases, it may often mean showing that earlier intervention would more likely than not have prevented the specific injury the patient sustained, or the death of the patient.

Why Every Delayed Diagnosis Does Not Equal a Case

Not every late diagnosis is malpractice. Diagnoses can be missed or delayed by healthcare providers acting reasonably under the circumstances. Florida law requires proof that the provider’s conduct fell below what a reasonably prudent provider would have done, and that the failure, more likely than not, caused the patient’s injury or death. Careful case-specific review is what may separate viable claims from cases that cannot be proven.

Statute of Limitations and Presuit Notice

Florida imposes strict deadlines on medical malpractice claims, and missing the deadlines can result in a potentially viable case being barred from court. Our lawyers can help you determine whether your potential case is within Florida’s statute of limitations.

Before any medical malpractice lawsuit can be filed in court, Florida law requires that the Claimant send the potential defendant healthcare providers a Notice of Intent, after which there is a 90-day presuit screening period for the exchange of information between the parties. With rare exception, the Claimant’s attorney must include with the Notice of Intent a verified affidavit(s), from a qualified expert(s), who under oath says what were the actions and/or omissions of the potential defendant healthcare provider(s) that caused injury and damage to the Claimant.

What Damages Are Recoverable in Florida Delayed Diagnosis Cases?

Economic Damages

Economic damages can include the financial losses that were sustained and/or that reasonably will be suffered in the future, due to the malpractice. These can include lost wages, diminished earning capacity, past and future care, treatment, therapies and services. In serious cases, long-term care, rehabilitation, and assistive needs can drive these numbers significantly higher.

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages include pain, suffering, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, scarring and disfigurement since the time of the alleged malpractice and into the future. While there was once a limit on the amount that could be recovered for this category of damages, those caps were overruled by Florida’s highest court. Some healthcare providers claim that the caps on non-economic damages still apply to a certain category of claimants who receive health insurance through Medicaid, but this is regularly disputed by lawyers for victims of malpractice. Florida’s high court has not yet ruled on this issue.

Wrongful Death Damages

When a delayed diagnosis results in the patient’s death, Florida’s Wrongful Death Act can control who can recover and what. The statute may allow surviving spouses, children under the age of 25, and a small category of other family members to pursue damages including lost support, lost companionship, and mental pain and suffering.

Florida’s Wrongful Death Act contains a significant restriction that applies only to medical negligence cases. Under Florida’s wrongful death statute, children of the deceased who are not under 25, and parents of a child who is not under 25 and unmarried, cannot recover non-economic damages when the death was caused by medical malpractice. This law often referred to as Florida’s “Free Kill” law is a sad and unfortunate reality for people who have lost loved ones due to malpractice, but fall within a legal protection that exists only for healthcare providers.

Contact Needle & Ellenberg, P.A.

If you believe a Florida healthcare provider caused serious harm to you or a family member through a missed or delayed diagnosis, the first step is a free case evaluation. Medical malpractice cases are fact-intensive and deadline-driven. Early review by experienced counsel makes a difference in what the records show and what the timeline preserves.

We offer free, no-obligation case evaluations. Our staff speaks Spanish, and we represent clients in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Tampa, and throughout Florida. Contact us to schedule your consultation. There is no fee unless we recover compensation for you.