Yes. In Florida, the Department of Health governs doctors and medical providers and the administrative complaint process against them. If you are certain a doctor or medical provider has committed medical malpractice and seriously injured you or a loved one, or if that doctor or medical provider has violated your medical privacy rights, you should report them to the Department in order to protect the public. You can file a complaint a couple of different ways.
One way is by printing out and filling out a Health Care Provider Complaint Form which can be found Here. You can then mail it to:
Department of Health
Consumer Services Unit
4052 Bald Cypress Way, Bin C-75
Tallahassee, FL 32399-3275
You can also email the completed form Here. Be sure to attach the completed PDF file to your email.
Another way you can file a complaint is online by going to the Florida Health Care Complaint Portal. You can locate that website Here. There you can follow the instructions and prompts the website provides to you.
If your complaint qualifies for an investigation, the consumer services unit will refer the complaint to the investigative services unit. They will conduct an investigation and relay their findings to the prosecution services unit.
The prosecution services unit will determine whether to recommend: 1) issue an emergency order, 2) request expert review, 3) issue a closing order, or 4) file an administrative complaint. That recommendation is then passed onto a probable cause panel (made up of a few board members, usually one or two medical professionals and a consumer member).
The Probable Cause Panel then makes a final determination on what action to take which is to: 1) Escalate with an administrative complaint against the provider, 2) Close file, with a letter of guidance to the provider, or 3) Dismiss the matter.
If an administrative complaint is filed and they are found to have violated the law, then a medical provider can be punished up to and including the loss of their license to practice medicine, though most often the punishment is far less severe, if any punishment is given at all.
If you know a medical provider has seriously injured you in some way, you should file a complaint against them. By doing so, you help to protect the public and the practice of medicine.
