Ana Trisan v. Naples Center for Dermatology & Cosmetic Surgery, P.A., Etc.

• Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida
• Decided: March 11, 2026
• Docket: 3D2025-0310
• Status: Published

Opinion

Third District Court of Appeal State of Florida

Opinion filed March 11, 2026. Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.

________________

No. 3D25-0310 Lower Tribunal No. 23-16845-CA-01 ________________

Ana Trisan, Appellant,

vs.

Naples Center for Dermatology & Cosmetic Surgery, P.A., etc., et al., Appellees.

An Appeal from the Circuit Court for Miami-Dade County, Ariana Fajardo Orshan, Judge.

Law Offices of Keith M. Hanenian and Keith M. Hanenian and David A. Perrott (Tampa), for appellant.

Bowman and Brooke, LLP and Wendy F. Lumish and Katherine A. Gannon (Lake Mary); Taft, Stettinius & Hollister, LLP and John Riccione and Brianna M. Skelly (Chicago, IL), for appellee Naples Center for Dermatology & Cosmetic Surgery, P.A., etc.

Before EMAS, GORDO and BOKOR, JJ. PER CURIAM.

Affirmed. See § 95.11(4)(b), Fla. Stat. (2021) (defining, for purposes

of the statute of limitations, an action for medical malpractice: “An ‘action for

medical malpractice’ is defined as a claim in tort or in contract for damages

because of the death, injury, or monetary loss to any person arising out of

any medical, dental, or surgical diagnosis, treatment, or care by any provider

of health care.”); § 766.106(1)(a), Fla. Stat. (2021) (pre-suit notice statute,

defining the terms “claim for medical negligence” or “claim for medical

malpractice” as “a claim, arising out of the rendering of, or the failure to

render, medical care or services.”); Ramsay v. S. Lake Hosp., 357 So. 3d

253, 258 (Fla. 5th DCA 2023) (“Thus, ‘for an action to sound in medical

malpractice, the act from which the claim arises must be directly related to

medical care or services, which require the use of professional judgment or

skill.’” (quoting Nat'l Deaf Acad., LLC v. Townes, 242 So. 3d 303, 311-12

(Fla. 2018) (internal citation omitted)); Townes, 242 So. 3d at 309 (“[T]he

inquiry for determining whether a claim sounds in medical malpractice ‘is

twofold: (1) whether the action arose out of ‘medical . . . diagnosis, treatment

or care,’ and (2) whether such diagnosis, treatment or care was rendered by

a ‘provider of health care.’”); Joseph v. Univ. Behav. LLC, 71 So. 3d 913, 917

(Fla. 5th DCA 2011) (“The test for determining whether a defendant is

2 entitled to the benefit of the presuit screening requirements of section

766.106 is whether a defendant is liable under the medical negligence

standard of care set forth in section 766.102(1).” (internal citations omitted));

Univ. of Miami v. Bloomer, 337 So. 3d 838, 840 (Fla. 3d DCA 2022)

(observing that “a court must look beyond [the] label proffered and ‘must

apply the law to the well-pleaded allegations and decide the legal issue of

whether the complaint sounds in simple or medical negligence.’” (quoting Dr.

Navarro’s Vein Ctr. of Palm Beach, Inc. v. Miller, 22 So. 3d 776, 778 (Fla.

4th DCA 2009))); see also Corbo v. Garcia, 949 So. 2d 366, 370 (Fla. 2d

DCA 2007) (granting certiorari and dismissing complaint for failure to comply

with statutory presuit notice requirement, holding that, because “the

gravamen of [Garcia’s] claim is based on [the therapist’s] use of the

equipment during Garcia’s physical therapy treatment,” and that the “the

injury was caused by the use of the equipment during the rendering of

medical treatment” which “takes Garcia’s claim into the realm of a medical

negligence claim that is subject to the presuit screening requirement of

chapter 766.”); Martinez v. Lifemark Hosp. of Fla., Inc., 608 So. 2d 855, 857

(Fla. 3d DCA 1992) (holding that claims against hospital were governed by

medical malpractice statute where claims arose out of negligent medical

treatment by doctors, which were “both necessary to the claims against [the

3 hospital] and inextricably connected to them.”); Goldman v. Halifax Med. Ctr.,

Inc., 662 So. 2d 367, 371 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995) (court considered whether

chapter 766 applied to claims against a hospital for negligence arising out of

its employee, a radiologic technician, applying excessive pressure during a

mammogram, done on improperly calibrated equipment, causing the

plaintiff’s breast implant to rupture. In holding that the presuit notice

requirements of chapter 766 applied, the court noted that the “claim, that an

improperly calibrated machine that was used on her partly caused her injury,

is not unlike a claim that one was injured when a doctor used an unclean

scalpel, a claim which would clearly fall within the realm of providing medical

care.”).