Lawmakers Weigh Medical Malpractice Change
Florida lawmakers are considering changing a decades-old law and clearing the way for more medical-malpractice lawsuits over patient deaths.
With the issue closely watched by health-care, business and legal groups, the House Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee on Wednesday unanimously approved a bill (HB 6017) that would make the change, a day after the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a similar measure (SB 734).
The bills would undo part of a 1990 law that involves wrongful-death lawsuits and what are known as 'non-economic' damages for such things as pain and suffering.
That part of the law prevents people from seeking non-economic damages in certain circumstances. People who are 25 years old or older cannot seek such 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.
Numerous people told lawmakers this week that the law has prevented them from pursuing malpractice lawsuits in the deaths of family members. Supporters said the bill would hold health-care providers accountable for negligence.
'This bill is simply about accountability and parity,' House bill sponsor Dana Trabulsy, R-Fort Pierce, said.
But opponents argued it would lead to hundreds of additional medical-malpractice lawsuits each year, increasing insurance costs and exacerbating shortages of physicians. Florida Hospital Association lobbyist David Mica said that would affect access to patient care, such as in areas with rural hospitals.
'Universally, we're concerned about this really from an access to care,' Mica said. 'Specifically, when we look at our rural hospitals, they're running on razor-thin margins.'
Medical malpractice has been a battleground in the state Capitol for decades, with doctors and their allies trying to limit lawsuits and plaintiffs' attorneys and their allies arguing that limits would prevent injured people and their families from getting justice.
That political dynamic has been evident this week, with opponents of the bills including the Florida Hospital Association, the Florida Medical Association, the Florida Osteopathic Medical Association, the Florida Insurance Council, the Florida Chamber of Commerce and Associated Industries of Florida. Supporters have included the Florida Justice Association, which represents plaintiffs' attorneys, and AARP.
Lawmakers have considered similar bills in recent years but have not passed them.
As an example of the people who testified this week about being affected by the law, Sabrina Davis told the House panel that her father, Keith Davis, went to a hospital for knee pain. She said a doctor did not order an ultrasound that would have detected a blood clot that led to his death.
Davis said Florida 'should not be a state that provides sanctuary for bad medicine.'
But Vicki Norton, a Palm Beach County emergency physician who represented the Florida Medical Association and the Florida Osteopathic Medical Association, told lawmakers that malpractice costs in the state are 'astronomical.' She said the bill would hurt efforts to attract doctors and affect access to care.
The House bill also would need to clear the House Judiciary Committee before it could go to the full House. The Senate version, which was approved in a 9-2 vote Tuesday by the Senate Judiciary Committee, would need to clear two more committees before it could go to the full Senate.
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