Recent Florida case finds if a person is the victim of medical malpractice in the state of Florida and the victim did not have any dependants, the estate has a right to sue, but the recovery will be minimal or nothing.
Imagine your mother is a 65-year-old, retired widow. Still with plenty of healthy years left, and with no dependants (you’re financially independent), she experiences medical malpractice in the hospital. During transport to a different unit, she is dropped on the floor. Due to complications of the fall, her life is taken away in an instant.
With a healthy life cut short due to negligence in the medical arena, the value of her life is given a $0 designation in the Sunshine State. You and your grieving family will face difficulty suing for negligence under current Florida law.
That’s right, your independent, once healthy and thriving mother, whom you no longer depend upon for financial support, is worth nothing. This is unjust, and was recently reaffirmed in Buck v. Columbia Hospital Corporation of South Broward, 39 Fla. L. Weekly D1921 (Fla. 4th DCA Sept. 10, 2014).
CURRENT FLORIDA LAW: Wrongful Death Act Discrimination
If a person is the victim of medical malpractice in the state of Florida and they do not have any dependants, the estate has a right to sue, but the recovery will be minimal to nothing.
Essentially, elderly are worth nothing if medical professionals’ actions result in death.
Here’s the issue: Florida has the highest percentage of individuals who are elderly, surmounting to almost 20 percent of the state population, according to the U.S. Census. Many of these citizens who are elderly have lost their spouse, and are at an age where their children no longer need their financial support.
Florida’s Wrongful Death Act is discriminatory to the majority of the elderly population because many don’t have a living spouse, few have children under the age of 25, and there are no dependant relatives, as they are at an age where they can support themselves.
You may be lucky if you get enough money to foot the funeral bill… A funeral of an untimely death that wouldn’t have happened if the medical professionals weren’t negligent!
This same law discriminates against the wrongful death of anyone over age 24 who is disabled, unmarried and faced death in a Florida hospital due to negligence.
WHERE DOES THIS LEAVE US?
Studies show millennials are getting married later in life, and the elderly population is expanding each year. These two key demographics and their loved ones are not protected in the event of medical negligence.
DON’T LET IT STOP YOU.
Although the laws are currently unjust and cases are starting to arise that combat the discriminatory laws, don’t allow these case restrictions to refrain you from pursuing a medical malpractice and negligence case. There may be ways around the law, and ways to prove that it is unjust.
Don’t let your loved one die in vain.
