On May 15, 2025, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that he will veto HB 6017, which passed in the Florida House of Representatives by a vote of 104 to 6, and passed in the Florida Senate by a vote of 33 to 4, succumbing to intense pressure from health care industry lobbyists to veto the bill intended to undo an injustice in the present Florida medical malpractice law. The veto may be overridden, however, if the Florida Legislature decides to do so (the margins of passage of HB 6017 were large enough to override the Governor’s veto, if the Florida Legislature chooses to do so).
In announcing his intention to veto HB 6017, Governor DeSantis bowed to the health care industry’s lobbyists’ argument that enactment of HB 6017 would drive up medical malpractice insurance costs for health care providers: “That is going to lead to a flood of lawsuits against practitioners and against hospitals. Malpractice premiums are going to go up, it’s going to be harder to recruit physicians into Florida, and ultimately health care costs would go up.” Governor DeSantis indicated, however, that he would have supported the initiative if a cap on damages was set at $1 million, which was proposed as an amendment to HB 6017 but was rejected by the Florida Senate by the slimmest of margins (18 for and 19 against the amendment).
HB 6017
Florida law has barred adult children (over age 25) of an unmarried parent who died due to medical malpractice from receiving noneconomic damages, since 1990. The law also bars the parents of an adult child from receiving compensation for noneconomic damages for the death of their adult child (they can only recover compensatory damages related to medical bills, funeral, and other related expenses).
HB 6017 was described as “An act relating to recovery of damages for medical negligence resulting in death; amending s. 768.21, F.S.; deleting a provision that precluded certain persons from recovering damages for medical negligence resulting in death; amending ss. 400.023, 400.0235, and 429.295, F.S.; conforming provisions to changes made by the act; providing an effective date,” by eliminating the following language in the present law: “(8) The damages specified in subsection (3) shall not be recoverable by adult children and the damages specified in subsection (4) shall not be recoverable by parents of an adult child with respect to claims for medical negligence as defined by s. 766.106(1),” and similar language presently in Subsection (8) of section 768.21, Florida Statutes.
If you or a loved one have suffered serious harm (or worse) as a result of medical negligence in Florida or in another U.S. state, you should promptly find a Florida medical malpractice attorney, or a medical malpractice attorney in your state, who may investigate your medical malpractice claim for you and represent you or your loved one in a medical malpractice case, if appropriate.
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