TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – In 1990, Florida lawmakers included an exception in the state’s medical-malpractice laws that prevented a narrow group of people from pursuing key damages in lawsuits over the deaths of family members.
And after years of debate, the Florida Senate finally approved a bill to open the door to allow those lawsuits.
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The bill (HB 6017) passed 33-4 in the Senate and now will head to Gov. Ron DeSantis for his signature.
Under the 1990 law, people who are 25 years old or older cannot seek what are known as “non-economic” damages in medical-malpractice cases involving deaths of their parents. Also, parents cannot seek such damages in malpractice cases involving the deaths of their children who are 25 or older.
People who allege their family members were killed by medical malpractice have lobbied heavily for the bill during this year’s legislative session. Health-care and business groups have lobbied against it.
The vote came a day after the bill appeared to stall following a fierce debate and some procedural moves, including a failed attempt to add a $1 million cap on non-economic damages in all medical malpractice lawsuits involving patient deaths.
Sen. Darryl Rouson, a St. Petersburg Democrat and attorney who supports the repeal bill, said families “have come to Tallahassee for the last 35 years seeking justice, seeking fairness.”
But Sen. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, argued the bill would lead to higher medical-malpractice insurance premiums, exacerbating problems of shortages of physicians in areas such as obstetrics and gynecology.
“This is going to create a major problem for the state of Florida,” said Harrell, whose late husband was a physician.
But Sen. Erin Grall, R-Vero Beach, described the cap proposal as lawmakers giving the “biggest gift of the year” to medical-malpractice insurers and said juries should determine losses in such cases.
“Caps, to me, are the antithesis of accountability,” Grall, an attorney, said.
The situation has gotten so intense, Harrell says someone put a billboard up in front of her neighborhood, accusing her of supporting “profits over people.”
“I can tell you that is very devastating to anyone in a political situation where they think Gayle Harrell puts profits over people,” Harrell, whose late husband was a physician, said. “I do not. I do not.”