Emergency medical services and care can play a pivotal role in Florida workers’ compensation cases. Under section 440.13(1)(e), Florida Statutes, “emergency services and care” is defined by its reference to section 395.002, Florida Statutes (2024), as follows: (9) “Emergency services and care” means medical screening, examination, and evaluation by a physician,…
In Ripple v. CBS Corp., 385 So.3d 1021 (Fla. 2024), the Florida Supreme Court held that a spouse who married the decedent after the onset of the injury that caused the decedent’s death can recover damages as a “surviving spouse” under section 768.21(2) of the Florida Wrongful Death Act (the…
A medical provider authorized by an employer or workers’ compensation insurance carrier to furnish care to an injured worker is paid based on a fee schedule. (Section 440.13(b), Florida Statutes allows for deviations by agreement.) Fee schedule payment amounts are always below the provider’s usual and customary charge. However, balance…
Medicare is a taxpayer-funded federal health insurance program that pays some health insurance costs. People are eligible for Medicare when they turn 65 years old. In addition, Medicare is automatically available 24 months after becoming entitled to Social Security Disability Income (SSDI). (Date of entitlement is the date of disability…
Active tortfeasors become legally liable for engaging in negligent conduct. Passive tortfeasors become liable for the negligent conduct of active tortfeasors through the legal principle known as vicarious liability. Examples include owners of motor vehicles whose permissive drivers cause crashes and employers for the acts of their employees. Nowadays, active…
Some states exempt charities from liability for damages caused by their servants. Florida does not. Nicholson v. Good Samaritan Hospital, 199 So. 344 (Fla. 1940). This is consistent with the legal doctrine known as respondeat superior, which holds employers liable for the negligent or purposeful acts of their employees. See Valeo…
Not infrequently, both a workers’ compensation case and a personal injury liability case will arise from the same accident. For example, a construction site supervisor involved in a motor vehicle crash while traveling to Home Depot for supplies can pursue workers’ compensation benefits from the employer and civil liability damages…
We just received a telephone call from a heartbroken mother whose 47-year old daughter died a few years ago after falling into a diabetic coma. A well-being, or safety check, call was made to the local police department a day after the young woman phoned to inform her employer that…
I have railed for years against various aspects of Florida’s workers’ compensation system. One of my main targets has been section 440.13(9)(c), Florida Statutes, covered under the section of the statute dealing with “Expert Medical Advisors.” What bothered me about the law is that it excluded workers’ compensation judges, known…
Florida law authorizes employers and their workers’ compensation insurance carriers (“E/C”) to choose every one of an injured worker’s treating doctors. See, sections 440.13(2)(a) & (f), Florida Statutes. They pick medical providers, sometimes called “The Usual Suspects,” from whom they can expect to receive favorable opinions. Because the doctors like…