By Vanessa Orr
In 1990, Florida passed what is commonly known as the “free kill” law, coined by the plaintiff bar, which strictly limits who can file lawsuits when the victim is 25 years old or older. The law specifically blocks adult children from recovering compensation for emotional and psychological damages in a wrongful death or medical malpractice suit on behalf of a deceased parent. Under Florida law, only the deceased spouse or children under 25 can recover damages. Parents of adult children killed by medical malpractice are prohibited from recovering damages for pain and suffering as well.
The law was originally passed with the goal of preventing doctors from leaving the state due to high medical malpractice insurance rates.
This past March, HB6017 was introduced in the Florida Senate with the goal of repealing that law. The bill, which passed the House by a vote of 104-6 and the Senate by a vote of 33-4, repeals the 1990 exception and provides that, where a wrongful death occurs as a result of medical negligence, a decedent’s adult children may recover noneconomic damages if there is no surviving spouse. It also provides that the parents of an adult decedent may recover noneconomic damages if there is no surviving spouse or surviving minor or adult children.
Simply put, survivors of a person who dies as a result of medical negligence have the same right to recover noneconomic damages as the survivors of a person who dies from any other form of negligence.
The bill is now headed to the desk of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has publicly said that he will veto its passing, believing that it will drive up medical malpractice insurance costs for health care providers and lead to a flood of lawsuits, ultimately causing health care costs to increase.
“Even though the Senate approved the bill in March, there was a lot of opposition and it took 24 hours for the decision to be made to pass the bill,” explained Kyla Murphy, AVP National Healthcare Practice, Risk Strategies. “During the debate, it was also proposed that a $1 million cap be put on the bill, essentially ensuring that the plaintiff in every malpractice case that included the death of a parent or an adult child over 25 could not be awarded more than $1 million. That was declined 19 to 18.”
Some of the biggest concerns, according to Murphy, is that Florida is already facing a slew of nuclear verdicts (exceptionally high verdicts, typically exceeding $10 million), rising malpractice insurance costs and a shortage of physicians.
“If the governor were to accept this bill, it would definitely affect malpractice insurance rates,” she said. “Premiums would go up because there would be more claims; parents would seek compensation for pain and suffering for the malpractice death of adult children or vice versa, and there is a good chance that the shortage of physicians would increase as fewer people would choose to pursue a medical career in Florida.”
For more information, contact Kyla Murphy at Kyla.murphy@risk-strategies.com or call 800-966-2120.
