TALLAHASSEE — More than four months after Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed the idea, the Florida House on Wednesday began a renewed effort to repeal a decades-old law that has prevented some people from pursuing key damages in medical-malpractice lawsuits.
The House Civil Justice & Claims Subcommittee voted 16-2 to approve a bill (HB 6003) that would repeal the long-controversial 1990 law. Supporters said a repeal would provide justice to people whose family members die because of medical negligence, while opponents said it would drive up insurance — and health-care — costs.
“I believe in this bill, and I believe that what we are doing is right,” bill sponsor Dana Trabulsy, R-Fort Pierce, said.
But Andrew Borom, a Tallahassee orthopedic surgeon, told lawmakers that the bill, which is filed for the legislative session that will start in January, would harm doctors already grappling with issues such as high insurance costs.
“We pay the highest malpractice rates in the country,” Borom said. “If your goal is to just throw another golden bone to the trial lawyers, you can feel free to do that. But if you want physicians who are well-trained and well-experienced to stay here in Florida, and take care of you and your patients, you need to reconsider this.”
Under the 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.
House leaders have made a priority of repealing the law. The House and Senate passed a repeal bill (HB 6017) during the 2025 legislative session, but DeSantis vetoed it in May, saying the change could “open floodgates” for litigation.
Though the bill passed by large margins in the House and Senate, lawmakers did not try to override DeSantis’ veto.
“I would have loved to have done that,” Trabulsy, who also sponsored the 2025 bill, said after Wednesday’s meeting. “But I don’t get to make that decision.”
Damages in medical-malpractice lawsuits have long been a heavily debated — and heavily lobbied — issue in the Legislature. But the issue about family members not being able to pursue non-economic, often known as pain-and-suffering, damages has included bill supporters repeatedly appearing at meetings to recount emotional stories about losing parents or children to what they say was medical negligence.
“I can’t replace my father in 14 years,” Alyssa Crocker, who said her father died because of negligence at a Miami hospital, told lawmakers Wednesday. “I can’t replace my dad, ever. He’s dead. That is a big loss. If you don’t want to be sued, don’t be negligent. It’s that simple.”
But opponents of the bill, including representatives of the insurance and health-care industries, said that if the law is repealed, the Legislature should also cap non-economic damages in all malpractice cases. They contended such a move would help balance increased costs that would result from the repeal.
After the meeting, Trabulsy wouldn’t disclose a strategy for trying to get final approval for the repeal bill in 2026. But she said she doesn’t “plan to get the same result, and if I do, then we’ll go round three.”
Rep. Kim Berfield, R-Clearwater, and Rep. Danny Nix, R-Placida, cast the dissenting votes Wednesday. A Senate version of the bill has not been filed.
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News Service Assignment Manager Tom Urban contributed to this report.
