Medical malpractice changes inch closer to final passage

Bills that would increase the potential for wrongful death lawsuits to be filed against Florida doctors and hospitals inched closer to final passage Wednesday.

With very little fanfare, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to approve HB 6017 , with “no” votes cast by just six members.

The Senate companion, SB 734, cleared the Senate Rules Committee with one dissenting vote cast by Sen. Gayle Harrell. Harrell’s late husband was a longtime Florida obstetrician and she has traditionally been a strong voice for organized medicine in the Florida Legislature.

The insurance industry, Florida hospitals, and organized medicine such as the Florida Medical and Florida Osteopathic associations, oppose the bill in its current form. But they are willing to support eliminating the ban if the Legislature agrees to limit damages for pain and suffering by placing caps on the amount that can be recovered. 

Otherwise, increasing civil liability will further increase medical malpractice insurance rates and drive physicians away from practicing, the opponents say.

Florida has had no caps on pain and suffering in medical malpractice lawsuits since 2014, when the Florida Supreme Court ruled them unconstitutional. But the makeup of the Florida Supreme Court has changed since then, with the majority of the justices now having been appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

And the medical and insurance industries are eager to reinstate caps and put the new justices to  the test.

To date, neither the House nor Senate have included the industry-coveted caps in the bills.

But House Speaker Danny Perez told reporters that things could change.

“The House didn’t entertain caps. If it’s something that the Senate wants to entertain, it’s a conversation that we’re always willing to have. This is part of negotiation,” he said.

You know, we don’t know where we’re going to end up. It’s kind of like the budget. We came out with our budget … and the Senate came out with theirs, and now we just got to begin to have those conversations and see what the middle ground is, and see where we land. And I think, you know this bill is, is no different.”

When it comes to wrongful deaths stemming from medical malpractice claims, parents of single, childless, adult children cannot sue for noneconomic damages, such as pain and suffering.

Additionally, adults (defined as 25 or older) cannot pursue wrongful death claims for parents who die from medical malpractice.The Legislature adopted the ban during the 1990s as lawmakers wrestled with rising malpractice premiums.

There has been a concerted effort in recent years, though, to eliminate the ban, and members of Senate Judiciary heard from people on both sides of the issue Tuesday, the first day of the annual 60-day legislative session.