can a medical malpractice case that happened in south carolina be file from florida where I reside?

I had a Total Hip Replacement in SC. I am really messed up. My question is, can I file the claim in my home state of florida? The surgery took place in South Carolina. Do I need a SC attorney?

Public Comments

1. You can have a Florida attorney but you need to file in South Carolina. where the malpractice took place.
2. You should talk to a Florida attorney first to make sure (and perhaps they might be able to refer you to a SC attorney), but you will probably have to file the case in South Carolina. There are several legal doctrines that apply when suing an out-of-state defendant for an out-of-state incident that will make it very hard for you file the case in your home state. The two biggest problems will be whether there are "sufficient contacts" between the doctor and Florida to allow the Florida courts to proceed at all and whether so much of the evidence about the case is in South Carolina that it would be easier for everybody (other than you) to let South Carolina handle the case.