Florida Injury Attorneys Blog

Miguel Rocafort of Miami, Florida died after a hit-and-run left him with injures that Kendall Regional Medical Center allegedly neglected to treat due to limited insurance funds, according to his widow. Rocafort died on Friday, six days after he was hit by a hit-and-run driver and less than two days after he was discharged from Kendall Regional Medical Center. Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office officials continue to search for the hit-and-run driver; in the meantime, it is unclear whether Flor Graham plans on retaining a personal injury attorney.

According to reports, Miguel Rocafort, 51, was hit at approximately 6:50 a.m. in on Southwest 137th Avenue near Eureka Drive last Saturday. He was reportedly riding his bicycle, a hobby of his, when the accident occurred. The driver, who may have been in a dark-colored Honda, drove off, leaving Rocafort with a serious head injury, fluid buildup in his skill, a broke leg and a fractured vertebrae.

Rocafort was rushed to Kendall Regional Medical Center following the accident. Fire rescue crews reportedly chose to take him there rather than to closer hospitals because Kendall Regional Medical Center has a class-II trauma center.

Flo Graham reported that her husband was treated for two days before the medical center tried to discharge him. Flo Rocafort, who works as a medical assistant at Jackson Memorial Hospital, said that she convinced the staff that her husband was not ready to go home. "They told me the insurance was tightening up," Flor Graham told the press. "I told them he was too seriously injured to go home yet."

However, she says, the hospital discharged Rocafort on Tuesday, despite his condition. "The patient [Miguel Rocafort] arrived at Kendall Regional Medical Center's Emergency Department, was admitted, cared for, and appropriately discharged," commented a Kendall Regional Medical Center spokesperson in response to the allegations. It is not clear how long a hospital stay is typical for the kinds of injuries that Rocafort suffered from.

Flor told the press that Rocafort was in 'extreme pain' when he left the hospital on Tuesday, and that at approximately 2:00 a.m. on Thursday, he started having trouble breathing. He lost consciousness, and Flor explained that she performed CPR and called an ambulance. He was pronounced dead at Baptist Medical Center a short time later.

"He wasn't well. It wasn't like it was a little hit, it was a terrible accident" commented a friend of the couple regarding Rocafort's early release from the hospital. "I think they let him go too soon, way too soon."

Meanwhile, the search for the hit-and-run driver was taken over by the Miami-Dade traffic homicide unit, as it escalated from a hit-and-run with serious injuries to a hit-and-run with a fatality. "We are looking for help from the public," announced a spokesperson. "Anyone who may have seen anything or knows anything about this hit and run is asked to call police." Flor Graham has also expressed that she hopes the driver of the car that hit her husband is apprehended.

Rebecca Hawk, 23, was killed in Tampa, Florida from carbon monoxide poisoning earlier this month. According to news reports, the carbon monoxide poisoning occurred when another resident in her apartment building left his car running for an extended period of time. It appears as though the fumes built up and silently killed her.

Aside from Rebecca Hawk, the carbon monoxide poisoned two other people, causing serious injuries to one and light headedness to the other.

As an injury attorney, my perspective is one of a legal nature. My job is to identify the people who are responsible for this terrible accident and hold them accountable.

To build a successful case against those responsible, an injury lawyer must bring together three main elements in every case. First, the injury attorney must be able to prove that a person or other entity has acted negligently. This can be done by proving they did something wrong or failed to do something right.

Second, an injury lawyer has to prove that the victim party sustained a quantifiable injury. Clearly, instances of death or serious bodily injury are the most quantifiable. Such injuries can include monetary losses for medical bills, lost wages, future earnings and lost financial support for dependents. A victim or his/her heirs may also collect for pain and suffering as well as punitive damges (in some cases).

Now, even if an injury lawyer can clearly prove that someone acted with negligence causing another to sustain quantifiable injury, the case will be worthless unless the offending party is collectible.

This leads me to the third element: collectibility.

In order to tie the whole case together, injury attorneys will look for insurance policies as well as assets.

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