The Florida Senate appears to have put an end to a bill that would have allowed parents of adult children to sue for damages in medical malpractice cases.
The Senate Judiciary Committee last week effectively shelved consideration of Senate Bill 262, which would have stripped away a measure of liability lawsuit protection for doctors and hospitals. The committee failed to consider the bill at its last scheduled meeting of the 2022 session.
Medical interests and the Florida Chamber of Commerce had opposed the bill, arguing that current law helps keep malpractice insurance premiums affordable, according to a report by Florida Public Radio and the University of Florida.
Similar efforts to change the law died in the Legislature in 2021. A related bill this year, SB 560, would have let adult children file suit over the deaths of parents in malpractice cases. The Senate Judiciary Committee failed to consider the measure and similar bills in the House of Representatives don’t appear to be moving, according to news reports and the legislative calendar.
The bar on parents filing malpractice claims over injuries to their adult children, along with the prohibition against people over age 25 suing doctors for pain and loss if the parents were divorced or unmarried, came about in 1990. Critics have said the law takes away a deterrent against medical negligence.
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