Bill to end limits on who can sue for medical malpractice stalls in Florida Senate

TALLAHASSEE — 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 appeared on the verge Wednesday of passing a bill to repeal the exception.

But Senate sponsor Clay Yarborough, R-Jacksonville, tabled the bill, leaving unclear whether lawmakers will address the issue in the remaining days of the legislative session.

Yarborough’s move came after the House voted 104-6 last month to pass the bill (HB 6017) — and after the Senate, following a fierce debate Wednesday, voted 19-18 to defeat a proposal that would have made a major change to the bill.

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.

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.

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.

Yarborough, who has supported repealing the law, did not give an explanation when he tabled the bill. He later said he wanted to “continue to work on details related to the bill.”

But the move came after the Senate voted 19-18 to reject a proposed addition to the bill that would have placed a $1 million cap on non-economic — often known as “pain and suffering” — damages in all medical malpractice lawsuits involving patient deaths.

Damage caps have been a lightning-rod issue for decades, with health-care groups backing such limits and plaintiffs’ attorneys fighting them. Yarborough said the proposed addition would bring “balance” to the bill.

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.