Clay Yarborough amendment is a prescription for physician compromise

In times like this, compromise is needed.

Amid this Legislative Session, Senate President Kathleen Passidomo is laser-focused on reversing the state’s historic doctor shortage.

But along came SB 248, threatening to derail the President’s priority by sending doctors packing their stethoscopes and leaving Florida for more physician-friendly states — all by expanding the Florida Wrongful Death Act and potentially sending doctors’ already sky-high medical malpractice premiums into the stratosphere.

Let me say right off that I absolutely believe victims of malpractice mistakes deserve fair compensation. But your definition of “fair” is most likely a lot different than a trial lawyer’s, and the problem lies therein.

Last year’s tort reform legislation excluded medical malpractice cases, but now we’re seeing a push from the trial bar to increase potential judgments and settlements. This might be a win for a select few, but the broader impact could lead to a dwindling doctor pool, longer waitlists for medical appointments, and higher insurance costs.

It was hard to focus on financial policy discussions at yesterday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Parents and their disabled children lined up and took the mic to tell their heart-wrenching stories, raw and poignant, reminding us that the stakes extend far beyond dollars and cents.

In times like this, compromise is needed: holding negligent health care providers accountable while not derailing efforts to fix our state’s doctor shortage.

Enter Sen. Clay Yarborough, who navigated this emotional minefield with a finesse that deserves more than a polite nod. His strike-all amendment to SB 248 wasn’t a legislative maneuver but a tightrope walk over a canyon of competing interests. He crafted a solution that respects the deep struggles of these families without plunging Florida’s medical community into a financial tailspin. The committee wisely embraced his approach.

That’s not just good news; it’s a critical lifeline for Passidomo’s initiative to attract and retain medical talent.

By capping noneconomic damages, Yarborough’s amendment brings a semblance of sanity to an arena often dominated by extreme outcomes. It may be a tough pill for some to swallow. Still, it’s coated with the reality of what’s needed to prevent Florida’s health care ecosystem from buckling under the weight of exorbitant insurance premiums.

Ultimately, the North Florida Senator’s amendment stands out as a masterclass in compromise. And in a political climate where extremes often dominate, it serves as a reminder that nuanced, balanced solutions can still exist. The amendment strikes a delicate balance between empathy and economics.

For now, it seems to be just what the doctor ordered.

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5 comments

Jane Smith
January 24, 2024 at 6:20 am

This has been studied and there is simply no evidence that supports a link between capping the amounts that people, including kids, who have been hurt can recover to compensate them for their injuries and doctor shortages…so this bill doesn’t solve that problem. There are a lot of ways to solve that problem including offering medical school tuition relief and housing programs after medical school that could encourage doctors to come and stay in Florida.
Also, hospitals and doctors already have the ability to cap what they have to pay for their mistakes, by admitting them and arbitrating damages, there is a cap on pain and suffering damages. The cases where people get more than the cap are where insurance companies won’t admit fault and are later found to be at fault. This bill is an unnecessary strike at the least among us, injured kids, in favor of big business. It does not effectively fix anything and hurts injured people.
Phil Morton
January 24, 2024 at 8:28 am

The Florida Surgeon General and the state government are telling Floridians to ignore what medical professionals say is best for your health. Why would any self respecting doctor want to practice is such a hostile environment?
Michael Feiler
January 25, 2024 at 10:05 am

Shame on you for not knowing the facts and simply parroting insurance company propaganda. First, there’s no evidence that verdicts against bad doctors drive anyone away from Florida other than – you guessed it, bad doctors. Second, caps on pain and suffering only hurt the most severely injured and deserving victims. And a cap as low as that proposed in this bad bill simply acts as denial of access to the courts. This is a terrible idea that has been found in the past to be unconstitutional.
Sabrina
January 31, 2024 at 9:58 am

I’ve been fighting to repeal Florida statute 768.21 subsection 8, since my father died of proven medical malpractice, determined by department of health case number 202034303 where the doctor worked below the standard of care and committed medical malpractice. I still ask myself how my dad could travel the depths of the ocean on a ballistic missile nuclear submarine and make it back home to me alive, but when he needed help for knee pain, the doctor would make a conscious disregard for his life resulting in death. It’s never been about the money for me, so I refuse to speak on caps. I trust that Senator Yarborough will continue to restore equal access to the civil courts for all families who have been through proven medical malpractice.
Travis Creighton
February 4, 2024 at 9:07 pm

Peter, I submitted a solutions to the legislature that would make everyone happy and not cost the taxpayer a dine.

The simply solutions is to have AHCA actually impose proper fines on hospitals. If you look at past settlements, most every “count” is settled for the minimum – $1,000. If proper fines were levied, those fines could be placed in a fund and the fund subsidize the medical malpractice premiums. This makes the premiums affordable to the doctors and gives the needed capital to the policy providers to meet their needed actuarial reserves. With these two taken care of, §768.21(8) can be repealed allowing the people to have their day in court with proper representation.

Use the imposed fines from medical violations and only those committing violations feel the effect of their actions. As the violations go down, so will the cost of premiums and the fund will have less funds. The converse is true, too. This is a feedback loop solution and is ideal.

I provided my solution to Senator Yarborough, the entire legislature, and Gov. DeSantis. Challenge them to find a better solution.