Change the Florida Wrongful Death Act Statute 768.16-768.26 to protect Florida Residents from medical malpractice!

Norma Cook died at Morton Plant in Clearwater, FL on June 27th 2014 due to gross negligence and malpractice on behalf of the doctor and surgeon. She went in for a routine/elective heart surgery. She was on blood thinners (xarelto) and a weight loss medication and any surgeon NEVER should have operated on her while on those medications, especially an elective, not medically necessary operation. The hospital and surgeon were aware of the medications! To make matters worse, an expert medical opinion suggests that the surgery was unnecessary anyway and the minor heart murmur would have went away simply by taking her off the weight loss medication (she was not overweight anyway). The surgeon was young and inexperienced and should have been given guidance by the hospitals cardiac division. She should be alive today! The autopsy, proves this to be true. The autopsy revealed he was in good health and her death was caused by the surgery that never should of happened.  But, because Florida Has a wrongful death statute protecting these doctors and hospitals, the doctor essentially gets away with murder!

Help protect the rest of our Florida seniors by changing this statue so doctors will be held accountable for malpractice!

 

In fact, ANYONE who has no dependents under the age of 25, is under-employed, disabled, or otherwise a defenseless memeber of society, and is a victim of medical malpractice or negligence, Florida law deems them worthless and cannot bring a medical malpractice suit!! This is wrong that Florida Law gives doctors, hospitals, health care providers, etc. immunity from being held accountable for their negligent actions!! How can a statute make killing someone through malpractice legal?! Seems unconstitutional to me!

Florida’s hospitals are full of unmarried adults with no children under 25, and  full of retired people without spouses. Young people are putting off marriage longer than they used to and we have a huge elderly population who have lost a spouse, divorced, or never married.  Why does Florida law allow them to be killed by medical negligence without recourse?  The answer is simple.  It’s because the medical, hospital, and insurance industries in Florida are very politically powerful. They lobby and they donate and they are given what they want in the name of “tort reform” and the false battle cry of eliminating frivolous lawsuits.  As with most so-called “tort reforms,” such legislation is not really aimed at “frivolous” cases but at legitimate cases.

Keep in mind these discriminatory provisions only apply to medical malpractice cases and not other types of negligently caused deaths.  For example, if that same 60 year old described above were killed by a negligent driver, her children (even though over 24 years old) would be allowed to bring a claim to recover for their emotional damages.  And the parents of that 25 year old unmarried child could recover for their emotional damages if he was run down by a motorist.   You might think of it this way:   if someone like you were to accidentally cause the death of someone in these socio-economic categories you could be held responsible for these types of damages to the family of the deceased person.

The statute elevates only doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers to this exalted status of having virtual immunity for negligently killing some of the most defenseless members of our society, i.e., the elderly, the disabled, and the underemployed!!! Help us change this statute!