Andrew Needle

Andrew Needle is Board Certified in Civil Trial Law by the Florida Bar. Following graduation from Cornell University in 1974 and the University of Miami, cum laude, in 1977, he began practicing law with one of the premier personal injury and medical malpractice firms in Florida. Since then he has distinguished himself professionally both in and out of the courtroom as a trial lawyer, author, and lecturer.

He is a charter member of the Miami chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates, a trial lawyer organization dedicated to the preservation of the civil justice system and for which admission is solely by peer recognition and experience. Mr. Needle’s courtroom victories include multi-million dollar verdicts in cases that have often pushed the outer boundaries of existing legal precedent. He is a former editorial consultant to Matthew Bender Law Books, and the author of “Post Trial Motions” Florida Civil Trial Practice, Chapter 18, Eleventh Edition as well as Inside The Minds- Representing Plaintiffs in Medical Malpractice Cases “Current Challenges in Handling Medical Malpractice Actions: Statutory Protections, Expenses, and Societal Misconceptions”, Thomson Reuters/Asparatore 2012.

For six years he was a member of the Florida Bar’s Board of Governors, which sets policy and discipline (under the auspices of the Florida Supreme Court), for all lawyers practicing in the state of Florida. Named as one of South Florida’s Top Lawyers in medical malpractice, personal injury and wrongful death by the “South Florida Legal Guide,” every year since its inception, he has been selected as a “Heavy Hitter” in healthcare law by the South Florida Business Journal, February 10, 2006, recognized in 2013 by Florida Trend Magazine as among Florida’s Legal Elite, and has been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America®, 2007-2017 in the areas of Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury.

Admitted to the Florida Bar 1977

Admitted to the United States Supreme Court 1981

Admitted to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida

Admitted to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida

Cornell University, BS 1974

University of Miami, JD cum laude, 1977

American Association for Justice

American Board of Trial Advocates

Florida Justice Association

Miami-Dade Justice Association

American Bar Association

Dade County Bar Association

Medical Malpractice: Sixty year Miami-Dade County, old African-American male with history of coronary artery disease dies in hospital of acute myocardial infarction following prostatectomy and placement on medical floor without telemetry. Settled: $1,000,000.

Medical Malpractice: Collier County woman suffers stroke following cervico-cerebral angiogram performed at a Naples area hospital by a radiologist not qualified to perform the procedure. Settled for $1,260,000

Medical Malpractice: Palm Beach woman sustained partial paralysis following formation of undiagnosed blood clot in her spine after surgery. Settled: $2,950,000.

Medical Malpractice: Elderly Palm Beach woman sustained mild brain injury following anesthesia overdose during cardiac catheterization. Settled: $2,250,000

Medical Malpractice: Miami infant, born prematurely, develops cerebral palsy after nursing staff makes medication error and gives an overdose of drug intended to help breathing. Settled: $3,150,000.

Medical Malpractice: 33 year old Miami female suffered cauda equina syndrome after negligent administration of spinal anesthesia. Settled: $1,450,000.

Medical Malpractice: Misdiagnosis of skin cancer leads to death of retired Palm Beach bank officer: Settlement: $1,650,000.

Medical Malpractice: A 61 year old wife died in Miami-Dade County during an attempted balloon angioplasty to unblock coronary arteries. Verdict: $1,000,000.

Medical Malpractice: Retired Miami Beach police chief suffers brain damage following improper removal of temporary heart pacemaker wires. Settled: $3,300,000.

Medical Malpractice: Miami-Dade child born with RH negative syndrome allowed to become hyper bilirubemic with kernicterus resulting in deafness and mild cerebral palsy. Settled: $5,950,000.

Medical Malpractice: A 43 year old divorced mother undergoes successful surgery in Miami-Dade County for Acoustic Neuroma but dies from unmonitored complications leaving a teenage son as a survivor. Settled: $1,700.000.

Medical Malpractice: Federal Tort Claims case against the United States of America for Miami Veterans’ Administration Hospital’s negligence producing pressure sores in paralyzed veteran. Award following trial: $1,500,000.

Medical Malpractice: Seventy six year old Broward County woman sustained brain damage during post-anesthesia recovery from routine laparoscopic gall bladder procedure. Settled: $3,250,000.

Medical Malpractice: Forty five year old Ocala woman suffered cardiac arrest and hypoxic brain injury at a Miami-Dade hospital following failure of nursing staff to appreciate and act upon a critically low serum potassium level while hospitalized. Settled: $7,750,000.

Medical Malpractice: Fifty two year old obese diabetic man hospitalized in a diabetic coma, from which he was recovering, suffered apparent cardiac arrest and died in a Miami-Dade County hospital when nurses failed to timely clear his airway. Settled: $750,000.

Medical Malpractice: Fifty two year old Flagler County man who had recently undergone radical surgery for squamous cell carcinoma of his mouth, suffered anoxic incident and brain damage during placement of a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube. Settled: $1,800,000.

Medical Malpractice: Fifty seven year old Putnam County woman collapses and dies from undiagnosed dissecting aortic aneurysm after some six hours in emergency department of hospital. Settled: $800,000.

Medical Malpractice/Surgical Error: Fifty Six year old Miami-Dade, County, woman dies from inadequate treatment of complications of gallbladder surgery. Settled: $1,000,000.

Medical Malpractice/Surgical Error: Fifty One year-old Miami-Dade, County, woman sustained comminuted fracture of her arm in a fall at home. During surgery she sustained radial nerve injury with wrist drop. Settled: $450,000.

Medical Malpractice/Surgical Error and Misdiagnosis: Seventy one year old Miami-Dade, County, retired African-American male sustains glaucoma and loss of vision in left eye following improper lens replacement surgery for cataract. Settled: $325,000

Medical Malpractice/Birth Trauma: St. Petersburg baby injured during delivery at a Pinellas County hospital, suffers brachial plexus injury due to obstetrician’s use of excessive traction during delivery. Settled for $485,000.

Medical Malpractice/Birth Trauma: Infant suffers permanent brain damage after removal of pacer wires from heart following successful elective heart surgery for benign congenital defect. Settled: $8,500,000

Medical Malpractice/Birth Trauma: Miami newborn suffers brain damage due to negligence of health care providers in Miami-Dade County. Settled: $1,250,000

Medical Malpractice/Birth Trauma: Polk County, Florida newborn suffers brachial plexus injury due to negligence of obstetrician and nursing staff at delivery. Settled : $995,000

Medical Malpractice/Birth Trauma: Miami-Dade newborn suffers brachial plexus injury due to negligence of obstetrician and nursing staff at delivery. Settled : $950,000

Medical Malpractice/Birth Trauma: Broward County infant sustains brachial plexus injury to arm during birth. Arbitration award: $1,900,000.

Medical Malpractice/Birth Trauma: Miami child sustains brachial plexus injury to arm during birth. Settlement: $2,075,000.

Medical Malpractice/Birth Trauma: Broward County obstetricians who delivered child vaginally, despite signs of fetal distress; child suffered significant brachial plexus injury. Settled: $2,000,000.

Medical Malpractice/Birth Trauma: Obstetrician, midwife and hospital pay for injury to child’s brachial plexus suffered during delivery. Settled: $825,000.

Medical Malpractice/Birth Trauma: South Florida obstetricians vaginally delivered a Broward County mother who had previously suffered the complication of shoulder dystocia in an older child’s birth. The current delivery was complicated by a severe shoulder dystocia that resulted in the baby suffering a profound brachial plexus/Erb’s palsy injury and some slight mental delay. Settled: $2,000,000.

Medical Malpractice/Birth Trauma: Jacksonville obstetrician vaginally delivered a mother who, he believed, was likely to have a large baby. Shoulder dystocia was encountered and a significant brachial plexus/Erb’s palsy injury was suffered by the child. Settled: $875,000.

Medical Malpractice/Birth Trauma: Obstetrician and his midwife paid their insurance policy limits, and the public hospital where the baby was delivered paid an additional sum to settle a brachial plexus/Erb’s palsy birth injury case. Settled: $825,000.

Medical Malpractice/Birth Trauma: Miami-Dade newborn suffers severe brain damage from hypoxia during delivery. Settled: $5,200,000.

Medical Malpractice/Misdiagnosis: Eight month old Pinellas County, Florida child suffers cognitive impairment from delay in diagnosis of bacterial meningitis. Settled: $4,000,000

Medical Malpractice/Misdiagnosis: Citrus County, Florida newborn without apparent risk factors experiences hyperbilirubinemia which is misdiagnosed following discharge from hospital and follow up exam by pediatrician. Suffers kernicterus with hearing impairment and mild cerebral palsy. Settled: $1,250,000.

Medical Malpractice/Misdiagnosis: Fifty four year old Miami-Dade County, Florida woman sustains permanent neurological injury after failure of healthcare providers to timely diagnose cauda equina syndrome.  Settled: $2,900,000.

Medical Malpractice/Misdiagnosis: Twenty five year old Miami-Dade County, Florida woman sustains brain damage from failure to timely diagnose/treat a brain abscess. Settled: $5,300,000.

Medical Malpractice/Misdiagnosis: Fifty six year-old Miami-Dade, County, African-American male left hemiplegic by failure to timely diagnose and treat stroke after admission to hospital with transient ischemic episode. Settled: $5,000,000.

Medical Malpractice/Misdiagnosis of Cancer: Orange County man’s lung cancer goes untreated for two years due to radiologist’s failure to detect lung abnormality when interpreting chest CT scan when patient was treated in emergency department for broken clavicle. Settled for $930,000.

Medical Malpractice/Federal Tort Claim/Misdiagnosis of Cancer: Death of a 54 year old husband as a result of a delay in diagnosing lymphoma in Miami-Dade. Settled: $800,000.

Medical Malpractice/Cancer Misdiagnosis: Failure to timely diagnose and treat non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma results in death of Broward County wife and mother. Settled: $1,920,000.

Medical Malpractice/Cancer Misdiagnosis: Patient went to hospital for injury to the chest/clavicle. CT-Angiogram revealed lung lesion, but the radiologist failed to point it out. Symptoms developed two years later but cancer had progressed to Stage IV. As a result of the delay, the likelihood of survival was lost. Settled: $900,000.

Medical Malpractice/Cancer Misdiagnosis: Death of 32 year old woman from a misdiagnosed colon cancer. The patient had entered the emergency room of a Miami-Dade hospital complaining of abdominal pain. She was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection and never told of the suspected neoplasm found on an abdominal CT. Several months later metastatic colon cancer was diagnosed at an Orlando area hospital. Settled: $800,000.

Medical Malpractice/Medication Error: Elderly Broward County man sustains brain damage and neurological impairment from delay in giving “clot busting” drug for stroke in Miami-Dade hospital. Settled: $1,100,000

Product Liability: Sixty Five year-old African-American male in Broward County sustains optical nerve ischemic injury to left eye from inflammatory reaction following administration of defectively compounded ophthalmic solution during cataract removal and lens implantation. Settled: $210,000

Premises Liability/Product Liability: Miami-Dade woman has her arm traumatically amputated after it is caught in malfunctioning washing machine at a laundromat. Verdict: $2,650,000.

Premises Liability/Product Liability: Seventy year-old Miami-Dade woman sustained extensive cosmetic and functional injuries to face, neck and jaw from deployment of defective automobile air-bag. Settled: $1,900,000.

Premises Liability/Product Liability: Forty five year old Orlando area woman sustained serious injury to her hand when it became caught in a heat sealing and packaging machine at a produce distribution company. The injury required multiple reconstructive surgeries to improve function and cosmetic appearance. Settled: $1,305,000

Premises Liability/Product Liability: Slip and fall by fifty six year-old female snowbird at a Miami Beach condominium on wet concrete steps by the pool area causing a burst compression vertebral fracture necessitating surgery. Settled: $450,000

Wrongful Birth/Birth Defect: Miami child delivered with severe developmental delays due to unusual micro deletion and translocation of genetic material at tip of chromosome. Defect not detected in amniocentesis performed during pregnancy. Settled: $3,500,000.

Wrongful Birth/Birth Defect: Miami child delivered with severe congenital heart defect requiring radical reconstructive procedures. Defect not diagnosed during pre-natal ultrasound. Settled: $2,300,000.

“Post Trial Motions” Florida Civil Trial Practice, Chapter 18, Eleventh Edition

Inside The Minds- Representing Plaintiffs in Medical Malpractice Cases “Current Challenges in Handling Medical Malpractice Actions: Statutory Protections, Expenses, and Societal Misconceptions”, Thomson Reuters/Asparatore 2012.