OP-ED by Tom Wheeler
During the 2025 legislative session, I had the opportunity to testify before several legislative committees on the subject of medical malpractice. There was a serious debate underway about whether to change Florida’s law to allow any family member to be able to seek compensation for the pain and suffering associated with a legitimate medical malpractice claim. Ultimately, the bill passed, and thankfully, the governor vetoed it.
As a small business leader, I can already tell you that I’ve been held hostage before by a frivolous lawsuit, and my desire is to do more to stop settlement-shoppers as opposed to helping them with their abuse of our courtrooms. With that being said, the loss of a loved one under any circumstance is always heartbreaking, and death as a result of medical malpractice is something that we all desire to stop. However, making it easier to sue for emotional damages in these cases will do nothing to stop medical malpractice, and the consequences for expanding the scope of a lawsuit is far-reaching for consumers, taxpayers, and patients.
Direct family members already have the power in Florida to sue for economic damages for medical malpractice claims. Pain and suffering is a nebulous term and would have greatly exaggerated the claims and jury awards. This would have driven up the cost of insurance for nurses, doctors, and other medical professionals. In turn, they may have either moved from Florida, or if they were young, they may have been discouraged from ever moving here. That would result in fewer doctors and nurses in a state that is already suffering significant medical professional shortages.
Furthermore, if the bill had not been vetoed, the cost of litigation would have already been in the process of being written into the cost for healthcare delivery, meaning that prices would skyrocket for our seniors and working families. The last thing that we need now is yet another increase on the prices for healthcare delivery.
Another big issue out there that we need to be focused on is stopping the financing of lawsuits by third parties. This is a big issue, and international hedge funds, some even backed by the Chinese, are now seeing the American courtroom as a place to make money. They put up the money for a lawsuit with the idea that they will be repaid after the plaintiff wins or gains a settlement. They have no incentive to negotiate, and they will needlessly put their plaintiff at financial risk as they play games with multiple lawsuits. In this case, no one wins. Juries deserve to know if a third party stands to gain from a liability award in place of the plaintiff.
We can continue to make Florida a better place to do business and make the courts fairer and fairer for everyone. This should be our collective goal for the next legislative session.
Tom is the chairman of the Florida Coalition for Private Property Rights
