More than 30 years after it first became Florida law, families unable to sue over deadly medical mistakes are, once again, pleading with lawmakers to get it off the books.
On Tuesday, more than a dozen family members made their case to senators during a Judiciary Committee to support a bill that aims to fully repeal what critics have long dubbed, Florida’s “free kill law.”
WATCH: Bill to end Florida's 'free kill' law passes first hurdle
The law, originally passed to help attract doctors to Florida, prevents families from suing a doctor or hospital if their loved one dies of medical malpractice, and they were at least 25 years old and unmarried at the time of their death.
We first exposed the law’s crushing impact on families back in 2023.
Sabrina Davis lost her father to an undiagnosed blood clot in 2020 after he went to the hospital for leg pain. She’s been fighting to get the law repealed ever since.
Cindy Jenkins described how her 25-year-old daughter, Taylor, died of a misdiagnosed brain injury after she was rear-ended a few years ago.
Jenkins and Davis were among speakers who testified in support of the new bill.
Davis told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that the current law in place “is providing sanctuary for bad medicine here in Florida. We can do better than that."
Other supporters of the bill raised concerns that the current law unfairly discriminates against adults with special needs who, in some cases, are forbidden by law to get married because of their disabilities.
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Republican Senator Clay Yarborough, who introduced the bill, hopes repealing the law will help encourage more accountability in the health care industry.
“No individual or institution is above accountability,” he said.
The bill is not the first effort to kill this law.
Attempts to change or repeal the law have been made for years, but always caved to the political and financial pressures from the health care industry.
Last year, a bill also introduced by Senator Yarborough failed when health care lobbyists pushed for caps on how much families could sue for.
This year, lobbyists and other health care advocates voiced similar concerns.
“There is a shortage of doctors in Florida and, in no way do we want to encourage that to get worse,” said one speaker voicing opposition to Yarborough’s bill.
“Florida already has the highest medical insurance premiums in the country,” said attorney Andy Bolin, a lobbyist representing the health care industry. He warned that costs would go up if the law is taken off the books. Though Bolin said he welcomes discussions to make changes to Florida’s current Wrongful Death Act.
In the end, the committee voted to move the bill forward in a 9-2 vote. The vote represented one small step in what is still a long legislative session ahead.
A companion bill has also been introduced in the House, which will be discussed on Wednesday.
