Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has announced that he is vetoing a bill that would allow some people pursuing medical-malpractice lawsuits over the deaths of family members.
Gov. DeSantis announced the veto of HB 6017 at Gulf Coast Medical Center Hospital with Florida Department of Health Surgeon General Dr. Joe Ladapo on Thursday.
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.
The Florida Senate voted 33-4 in late March to pass the bill that would have repealed the 1990 law.
Supporters of the repeal have said the law prevents people from getting justice for deaths caused by medical malpractice.
“This is a 35-year-old law that needs to be repealed,” Senate bill sponsor Clay Yarborough, R-Jacksonville, said Thursday. “It’s unjust. It shouldn’t be on the books.”
But DeSantis and other opponents have argued that a repeal would drive up medical-malpractice insurance premiums and exacerbate problems with physician shortages in the state.
“We are going to create even more of a problem in the state of Florida,” Sen. Gayle Harrell, R-Stuart, said.
The governor said in the news conference that if the bill passed, it would have opened the floodgates for non-economic damages. DeSantis also said that the costs would be passed on to people.
Additionally, DeSantis mentioned two alternative ideas. The first would be to focus on holding physicians directly accountable instead. The second idea would be to put caps on damages in terms of the amount awarded and how much attorneys could recover.
DeSantis said that they want accountability, but don't believe there should be lawsuits all the time.
Jim Saunders, News Service of Florida, contributed to this report.
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