Tampa medical malpractice lawyer
Why which hospital treated you can decide what the claim is worth
Two patients can suffer the identical injury from the identical error in Tampa and have claims worth wildly different amounts, because of where they were treated. If the provider is a governmental entity or its statutory agent, Fla. Stat. § 768.28 caps recovery at $200,000 per person and $300,000 per incident, and anything above that requires an act of the Legislature. If it is a private hospital, there is no such cap. In Hillsborough the answer is less settled than people assume: USF Health faculty physicians are state university employees, while Tampa General is run by a private nonprofit on property owned by a county hospital authority. The chapter 766 presuit process — the expert affidavit, the notice of intent, the 90-day period — is explained in full on the Florida medical malpractice page. What follows is the Hillsborough County part.
- Hillsborough County crashes, 2024
- 26,269Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
- People injured
- 17,359In Hillsborough County alone, in one year
- People killed
- 180Down from 230 the year before
- Cap against a public hospital
- $200,000Per person, $300,000 per incident. More needs an act of the Legislature. § 768.28(5)
Quick answers about Tampa medical malpractice claims
- Does it matter which hospital treated me?
- It can decide the value of the claim. A governmental provider is capped at $200,000 per person under § 768.28(5). A private hospital is not capped at all.
- Is Tampa General a public hospital?
- Less simply than it looks. Tampa General is operated by Florida Health Sciences Center, Inc., a private nonprofit, on Davis Islands property owned by the Hillsborough County Hospital Authority under a 1997 lease. Whether § 768.28 limits reach a given defendant there is a threshold question to resolve, not to assume.
- What if a resident or a university physician treated me?
- Section 768.28(10)(f) can make a nonprofit medical school’s physicians agents of a government teaching hospital, which brings them inside the cap — but only on conditions, and those conditions are checkable.
- What about the VA?
- A federal facility is not a § 768.28 case at all. It runs under the Federal Tort Claims Act: an administrative claim on Standard Form 95 first, then suit in federal court, tried without a jury.
- How long do I have?
- Generally two years from when the incident was discovered or should have been discovered, with an outside limit of four years under § 95.11(5)(c). A claim against a governmental provider carries its own separate notice deadline on top of that.
- Do I need an expert before I can file?
- Yes. Section 766.203 requires a corroborating written opinion from a qualified medical expert before the notice of intent goes out. No affidavit, no case — which is why these take time to work up.
- Can I get the hospital’s own incident records?
- Amendment 7 to the Florida Constitution gives patients access to records of adverse medical incidents held by a provider. It is one of the few places Florida law favors the patient, and it is worth using early.
01 The law, once
02 The institutions
Where medical malpractice claims arise in Hillsborough County
The single most consequential fact in a Hillsborough County malpractice case is usually not what went wrong. It is where it happened, because that decides whether the claim is capped at $200,000 or not capped at all.
- Tampa General on Davis IslandsOperated by a private nonprofit on county hospital authority property under a 1997 lease. The § 768.28 question has to be established, not assumed.
- The Level I trauma centerInside Tampa General, which is where the region’s most serious injuries arrive.
- USF Health faculty physiciansEmployees of a state university, which brings § 768.28 into play for them directly.
- The Hillsborough County Hospital AuthorityOwns the Davis Islands property and oversees charity care and citizen grievances under the lease.
- AdventHealth, St. Joseph’s and the HCA hospitalsPrivate. No governmental cap, and the ordinary chapter 766 route.
- James A. Haley Veterans’ HospitalFederal. The Federal Tort Claims Act, Standard Form 95, and a trial without a jury.
- Florida Department of Health clinics in HillsboroughGovernmental providers, so the § 768.28 analysis applies to them too.
- Surgical centers and private practices countywideGenerally private, though who employed the physician still has to be established rather than assumed.
03 Who you are suing
04 The teaching hospital rule
05 The other deadline
06 Records
07 Examples of situations
Situations this office sees in Hillsborough County
The following are examples of the kinds of situations that arise in this county. They are illustrations of how the rules apply, not descriptions of past cases, and they do not predict any outcome. Every claim turns on its own facts, its own coverage and its own medical record.
Treated at a public hospital
The § 768.28 cap and its separate notice deadline apply, and the employee cannot be named personally.
Treated by a medical school physician at a teaching hospital
Section 768.28(10)(f) may make them an agent of the hospital — on conditions worth checking.
Treated at a private hospital
No governmental cap. Ordinary chapter 766 practice, and the full range of damages.
Treated at a VA facility
Federal Tort Claims Act, not Florida law. Form 95 first, then federal court, no jury.
A delayed or missed diagnosis
The discovery rule matters here, and so does the four-year outside limit.
A death in the family
Who may recover is governed by the Wrongful Death Act, and § 768.21(8) restricts it sharply in medical negligence.
08 The evidence
Evidence that exists here and often goes uncollected
Almost every camera that saw the crash overwrites itself within days or weeks. The difference between a disputed liability case and a straightforward one is usually whether someone asked for the footage while it still existed.
The complete medical record
Nursing notes, medication records, flow sheets and the images themselves.
The electronic record audit trail
Who accessed the chart, when, and what changed after the fact.
Adverse incident records under Amendment 7
Reaches material peer-review privilege would otherwise cover.
The affiliation agreement, where a university physician is involved
It is what § 768.28(10)(f) turns on, including the patient-notice condition.
Every billing statement
Billing frequently identifies the actual employer of each provider.
License and discipline history
Florida Department of Health verification, and AHCA facility records.
Your own timeline
When symptoms began, when you were told what, and when you first suspected.
09 The report
10 The office
Tampa medical malpractice questions, answered
Does it matter which Tampa hospital treated me?
It can decide what the claim is worth, before anything about the medicine is considered.
Under Fla. Stat. § 768.28(5), the state and its agencies and subdivisions cannot be made to pay more than $200,000 to any one person, or $300,000 for all claims from one incident. A judgment can be entered above that, but the excess may be paid only by further act of the Legislature.
A private hospital carries no such cap. So the identical error can produce claims of very different value depending on where a person happened to be taken.
Is Tampa General a public hospital?
Less simply than the question suggests, and this is worth getting right before anything is valued.
Tampa General is operated by Florida Health Sciences Center, Inc., a private not-for-profit corporation, on the Davis Islands property owned by the Hillsborough County Hospital Authority under a lease entered into in 1997. The Authority’s continuing role is oversight — the hospital’s condition, indigent and charity care reporting, and citizen grievances about being denied care for inability to pay.
Section 768.28(10)(f) separately contemplates a not-for-profit entity operating a facility as an agent of a political subdivision under a lease or contract. Whether that or any other route brings a particular defendant within § 768.28 depends on the lease and on who employed the person involved.
USF Health faculty physicians are a clearer case: they are employees of a state university, which brings § 768.28 into play for them directly.
So the honest answer is that it has to be established in the specific case rather than assumed either way — and the answer can change the value of the claim by an order of magnitude.
A university physician treated me. Does the cap still apply?
It may, and this is the provision that surprises people most.
Section 768.28(10)(f) treats a nonprofit Florida-chartered college or university that owns or operates an accredited medical school, and its employees and agents, as agents of a teaching hospital while acting within the scope of and under the guidelines of an affiliation agreement.
But it attaches conditions. The contract must require the school to indemnify the hospital up to the chapter’s limits and must state that the relevant parts of the school act on behalf of a public agency under § 119.011(2). And the teaching hospital or medical school must notify each patient that the exclusive remedy is an action under § 768.28 — satisfiable by a conspicuous posted notice.
Those are checkable. Obtaining the affiliation agreement is a real step, not a formality.
What counts as a teaching hospital for that rule?
One owned or operated by the state, a county or municipality, a public health trust, a special taxing district, or another governmental entity with health care responsibilities.
It also covers a not-for-profit entity that runs such a facility as an agent of the state or a political subdivision under a lease or contract — which is why the operating structure of a particular hospital has to be looked at rather than assumed.
I was treated at a VA hospital. Is that the same?
No. A federal facility is outside Florida’s scheme entirely and runs under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
That means an administrative claim presented to the agency on Standard Form 95 before any lawsuit, a different limitations structure, suit in federal district court, and a trial to a judge rather than a jury.
The practical consequence is that the first step is different from day one, which is a reason to identify a federal provider immediately.
What notice does a claim against a public provider need?
Its own, separate from and additional to the chapter 766 presuit requirements.
Section 768.28(6) requires written notice to the appropriate agency and, except for claims against a municipality or county, to the Department of Financial Services. The claim generally must be presented within 3 years of accrual, and within 2 years for wrongful death.
Failure to make final disposition within 6 months is deemed a denial — but for medical malpractice and wrongful death that period is 90 days, and the limitations period is tolled while it runs.
Do I need a medical expert before filing?
Yes, and this is the step that makes these cases slow to start.
Section 766.203 requires a corroborating written medical expert opinion before the notice of intent is served, and § 766.102 sets who qualifies as an expert, generally requiring similar specialty and practice.
It is also why a firm cannot responsibly promise an outcome at the first call. The investigation comes first and sometimes it concludes there is no claim.
How long do I have?
Generally two years from when the incident was discovered or should have been discovered, with an outside limit of four years from the incident itself, under § 95.11(5)(c).
A claim involving a governmental provider carries the § 768.28(6) presentment deadlines on top of that, and they can expire first.
Because the discovery rule and the outside limit interact, a case that feels early can already be close to a deadline. That is a reason to have the dates looked at rather than estimated.
Can I see the hospital’s internal incident reports?
Often yes, which is unusual and useful.
Amendment 7 to the Florida Constitution, Article X section 25, gives patients a right of access to records of adverse medical incidents made or received by a health care facility or provider.
It reaches material that peer-review confidentiality would otherwise keep out, and requesting it early — before a dispute hardens — tends to produce more than requesting it late.
A family member died. Who can recover?
That is governed by the Wrongful Death Act, and in medical negligence it is sharply restricted.
Under § 768.21(8), in a claim for medical negligence an adult child cannot recover for lost parental companionship or mental pain and suffering, and the parents of an adult child cannot recover mental pain and suffering either.
That provision is still law. A repeal passed the Legislature in 2025 and was vetoed; HB 6003 passed the House 88–17 on January 15, 2026 and died in Senate Rules on March 13, 2026.
It is the first thing to check in such a case, because it can determine whether there is a recoverable claim at all.
Where would the case be filed?
At the George E. Edgecomb Courthouse, 800 East Twiggs Street — unless a federal provider is involved, which moves it to federal court.
What does it cost?
The first conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
Injury cases are handled on a contingent attorney’s fee, meaning no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery. Case expenses are governed by the written representation agreement, including who pays them if there is no recovery.
Medical malpractice expenses are higher than in most injury cases because of the expert review the statute requires, which is a reason to have that conversation explicitly.
Who will actually handle my case?
Jose A. Dapena. You deal with your attorney directly at every stage rather than through an intake department or a case manager.
He has practiced in Florida since 1998, Florida Bar number 152358. The early work in a malpractice case is identifying the right defendant and the right deadline, and that is done before anyone opines on the medicine.
11 Keep reading
- Florida medical malpractice lawThe statutes, the deadlines and the defenses, in full
- The Tampa officeEverything the office handles, and the area it covers
- Personal injury in FloridaThe whole practice, and the other 22 kinds of claim
This page is general information about Florida law, not legal advice about your case. Published by Jose A. Dapena, P.A. Last updated October 2026.
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