Florida Lawmakers Vote to Repeal ‘Free Kill’ Law Affecting Med Mal Suits

Adult children and parents of young adults who died under medical care will soon be able to recover punitive and pain-and-suffering damages in medical malpractice lawsuits if Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs a bill into law.

The Florida Senate approved House Bill 6017, a month after the House of Representatives endorsed it. The measure would end the so-called “free kill” law that since 1990 has barred children aged 25 or older, or parents of deceased individuals who were 25 and up, from recovering non-economic damages under the state’s wrongful death statute.

The Senate vote was 33-4 in favor of the repeal, bucking a legislative trend toward reducing what the business and insurance communities have called excessive litigation in the state. Despite that trend, some Republicans who had voted for Florida’s 2023 tort reform law argued that the “free kill” law had gone too far.

“This is a 35-year-old law that needs to be repealed,” state Sen. Clay Yarborough, R-Jacksonville, sponsor of the Senate version of the bill, said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “It’s unjust. It shouldn’t be on the books.”

Senators rejected an attempt to limit damages in the lawsuits to $1 million.

Sen. Gayle Harrell said repeal of the law, without the cap on damages, would cause “a major problem for the state of Florida,” by keeping malpractice insurance rates at very high levels and discouraging doctors from moving to the state.

Sen. Jason Pizzo, a former Democrat, argued that Florida will see relatively few new lawsuits if the law is repealed, and it would have little impact on medical malpractice premiums.

“There isn’t a special category or line of insurance on the med-mal side that covers doctors who specialize in making sure that they operate on or treat people who have only adult children who can’t recover under Florida Statute 768,” Pizzo said on the floor. “That doesn’t exist.”

DeSantis has not indicated if he will sign or veto the bill, according to state news reports.

Photo: Pizzo on the floor Wednesday. (The Florida Channel)

Topics Lawsuits Florida Legislation