La Cava Jacobson Sponsor Holiday Fashion Show

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La Cava Jacobson Sponsor Holiday Fashion Show with proceeds benefiting St. Joseph’s Women’s Hospital.

NICU AngelEye Live-Streaming – Lights, Camera, Baby!

Giving birth is one of life’s most extraordinary experiences, but for parents who need to leave their babies in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, it can be very stressful and leave emotions in a disarray.

Funding from the 2021 Holiday Fashion Show will help provide new video streaming technology called AngelEye. This state-of-the-art communications system allows parents to monitor their baby through an app on their phone, giving them peace of mind when they cannot be at the hospital. High resolution wireless cameras—complete with night vision—transmit live video of the baby securely to the parents’ personal device of choice and can be accessed by family and friends with permission anywhere in the world that has internet access.

This real-time interaction updates parents, shares vital information and creates memorable moments with their baby. The nurse maintains primary control and can manage the streaming when providing care or treatment. This device also allows private communication between the nurse and the mother to send updates on such things as weight gain and breastmilk volume. These benefits help by reducing separation anxiety, encouraging bonding, assisting in breast milk production, increasing family engagement and providing a sense of control to the mothers who often feel a great loss of control when they have an infant in the NICU.

Mandy Smith, Frank Roberts, Jay Azzarone, and Lou La Cava Obtain Summary Judgment Win in Medical Malpractice Case

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Amanda Smith, Frank Roberts, Jason Azzarone, and Lou La CavaAmanda Smith, Frank Roberts, Jason Azzarone, and Lou La Cava were successful in obtaining summary judgment in Lee County based on Plaintiff’s failure to comply with multiple provisions of Chapter 766, Florida Statues, governing the medical malpractice pre-suit screening requirements. Specifically, the Defendant argued that Plaintiff failed to serve a Notice of Intent to Initiate Litigation for Medical Negligence (“NOI”) in accordance with F.S. 766.106(2)(a) and F.R.C.P. 1.650 and failed to provide evidence that the Plaintiff and/or his attorneys conducted a good faith investigation pursuant to F.S. 766.104 and provide Defendants, their attorneys, and/or insurers, with a verified written medical expert opinion from a qualified medical expert in accordance with F.S. 766.102, 766.202, and 766.203.

The Defendant further argued that Plaintiff had ample notice of the pre-suit deficiency with time to cure said deficiency, but did not do so. The Court found that neither the Defendant doctor, nor her employer were put on notice of the potential claim, nor were they named in the NOI that was sent to the co-defendant hospital. The court acknowledged the imputed notice arguments made by Plaintiff and cited in the Young v. Naples Community Hospital Inc., 129 So. 3d 456, 459–60 (Fla. 2d DCA 2014), but relied upon two cases cited by the Defendant, Bonati v. Allen (911 So2d 285, (2005)) and Brundage v. Evans (295 So.3d 300 (2020)), which illustrated that, pre-suit investigation requirements under Florida Statute section 766.203 demanded some specificity towards potential defendants in pre-suit, and a valid notice alone without corroboration does not suffice to meet pre-suit requirements.

International Society of Barristers

Lou La Cava Accepted Into the International Society of Barristers

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Louis J. La CavaCongratulations to Lou La Cava, on being inducted as a Fellow of the International Society of Barristers. The ISOB was created in 1965 and is dedicated to preserving trial by jury, the adversary system and an independent judiciary. The organization was formed to recognize each era’s best advocates and to have them join to support the retention of trial by jury, professionalism, and ethics. Membership is by invitation only which is proceeded by a rigorous screening process that considers the lawyer’s ability, experience, accomplishments and ethical standards as assessed by trial lawyers and judges.

International Society of Barristers

Defense Verdict

Lou La Cava and Janett Durkee Obtain A Defense Verdict In A Wrongful Death Case

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Janet DurkeeLouis J. La CavaLou La Cava and Janet Durkee obtained a defense verdict for a hospitalist in a wrongful death case in Hillsborough County. The Plaintiff was a 62 year old female who fell down a flight of stairs and broke 5 ribs. She was intoxicated. She was evaluated in the emergency room and admitted to the hospital for observation. She was evaluated by the hospitalist in the morning and appeared stable. During the day she complained of pain, nausea and in the evening anxiety. Her blood pressure started getting lower. In the early morning hours she was found non responsive and she was unable to be resuscitated. On autopsy she was found to have additional rib fractures, a lacerated intercostal vessel and 2,000 ccs of blood in her right pleural space. Plaintiff alleged the hospitalist was negligent by not consulting a surgeon, failing to perform coagulation studies, failing to perform serial x-rays, failing to order a chest CT and failing to see the patient again during the day based on her complaints of pain, nausea and anxiety. After a 8 day trial the jury returned a verdict finding that the hospitalist defendant was not negligent and did not cause the decedent’s death.