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Lawmaker Seeks to Revamp Florida’s Medical Malpractice System

It seems that California and Florida are again on the frontlines of the war being waged on damage caps and other medical professional liability tort reform.

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In an article written by Tonya Alanez of the Sun Sentinel on March 24th, it was reported that a Central Florida Republican has proposed a plan that would change the entire medical malpractice system in Florida, saving the state “billions.”

Within days of the Florida Supreme Court eradicating medical-malpractice damage limits, Rep. Jason Brodeur stood before the House Judiciary Committee to lay out his plan. According to the report, Brodeur’s bill would eliminate trial costs and accusations of negligence or medical malpractice. In turn, cases would be resolved in six to nine months, meaning that more patients would get their claims heard and doctors wouldn’t need to order unnecessary tests to protect themselves from liability. “This is a big, different idea… It is significant, groundbreaking and some have even suggested, radical,” said Brodeur. His plan could save billions for Florida taxpayers and millions for businesses will creating “thousands of jobs”. Brodeur’s plan is modeled similarly to workers’ compensation, which would put claims before a panel of doctors who would then determine if “avoidable medical harm” had occurred and then compensation would be awarded using a formulated schedule. He believes that if litigation costs go down, insurance rates will follow.

Opponents to the pan say that claims would “snowball,” and that physicians would leave Florida. They also think that the state’s high court would rule the bill as unconstitutional. Others believe that the bill will never get off the ground. Medical malpractice is contentious to the point that small tweaks to the system are difficult so revamping the system would be nearly impossible. Jeff Scott, the general counsel for the Florida Medical Association thinks that the plan would put doctors and insurers on the hook for medical error other than negligence, making them liable for avoidable bad outcomes even if they did nothing wrong.

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