ORLANDO, Fla. — Lauren Korniyenko was devastated when her 70-year-old mother died in a Brevard County hospital two days after hip surgery. Her anguish worsened with a subsequent discovery: Florida law essentially blocked her from suing doctors and the hospital alleging shoddy medical care.

Now, she’s part of a network of families pushing to repeal a state statute critics have dubbed the “free kill law.” Often, Floridians discover that law only when a loved one dies, and no attorney will take their case because of the sharp limits it places on medical malpractice suits, Korniyenko said.

“In any other industry, if somebody is so negligent that it costs somebody else their life, there are means and measures to hold them accountable, and yet in this particular aspect, there’s nothing,” she said. “And for us, it’s very deeply, deeply angered us.”

Korniyenko’s mother, Lynn McGuill, falls into the category of Floridians whose families are ineligible to collect damages beyond direct economic loss. A 1990 law states that if someone 25 or older dies because of a doctor’s mistake in Florida, only a spouse or a child under 25 can sue for pain and suffering.

Because McGuill was widowed and her children were over 25, Korniyenko’s lawsuit would have been limited to funeral and burial costs and final medical bills, resulting in a payment too minimal to justify an attorney taking on the case.

No other state has such a law.

The issue is opening up a broader debate that could affect the state’s health care landscape for years to come. Medical groups are pushing for a cap on pain-and-suffering damages in exchange for ending the limits on who can sue for pain and suffering. They say those caps are needed to control rising malpractice insurance premiums that hurt the state’s ability to recruit and retain physicians.

State Sen. Clay Yarborough said he plans to refile a free-kill repeal bill that sputtered earlier this year. The state statute he is targeting affects a vast swath of Floridians — from single adults to widowed seniors.

“We do not want to see increased costs, but we fail in our duty if we leave a law like this on the books that places the value of some Floridians’ lives beneath others,” said Yarborough, R-Jacksonville.

He’ll face an uphill climb. Five total or partial repeal bills were proposed in the 2024 legislative session, but all failed to gain traction. Yarborough agreed to put a cap on pain-and-suffering damages into his repeal bill in hopes it could help it pass, but it failed to get to the Senate floor for a vote. The addition also drew complaints from families who said it put a price tag on their loved one’s life.

That cap would have limited noneconomic damages to a maximum of $500,000 from a doctor and $750,000 from a medical facility.

State Rep. Johanna López, D-Orlando, is the first lawmaker to file a bill for the 2025 session that starts in March, her third attempt to end the restrictions. López said she was inspired by the story of Keith Davis, a 62-year-old Navy veteran who died in 2020. His daughter, Sabrina Davis, was unable to sue, despite the Florida Department of Health alleging her dad’s doctor failed to diagnose a blood clot that ultimately killed him.

Doctor and hospital groups, though, argue Florida physicians face a tough environment with their already high malpractice insurance premiums. About 30 other states have capped medical malpractice payouts.

“The current malpractice climate is hostile for our ability to be able to take care of patients,” Dr. Jason Goldman, an internal medicine physician and former president of the Florida Medical Association, told lawmakers in a hearing earlier this year. “If we don’t have caps on noneconomic damages … we will not be able to get physicians to come to the state of Florida and practice.”

Korniyenko’s mother underwent surgery at Health First’s Viera Hospital to repair a broken hip, but she died two days later on Aug. 4, 2023, according to a complaint the family filed with the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. A private autopsy showed McGuill had an infection that progressed to septic shock and caused a gastrointestinal hemorrhage, Korniyenko said.

A third-party review, limited to McGuill’s medical records, concluded she was at a high risk of infection, and found that a physician did not appropriately evaluate her change in condition. But the review said that the care provided by the general hospital staff was appropriate, and the services met “all applicable professionally recognized standards of care.”

A hospital spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment. In a response provided to Korniyenko, the hospital’s internal review concluded the care provided was “safe and appropriate.”

Korniyenko has filed complaints with state agencies, but those are still pending months later. Getting accountability through the state can be difficult, according to a 2018 investigation by the South Florida Sun Sentinel. The paper’s review of hundreds of disciplinary cases found Florida’s system is often slow to punish doctors and quick to let them settle charges without accepting responsibility.

“There is no reason that citizens in a democracy should be denied the right to the judicial system,” Korniyenko said. “It’s a public health issue if there is no meaningful accountability. That means negligent and reckless doctors are free to practice with absolutely no consequences and that makes the health care system less safe for all of us.”

Korniyenko isn’t alone. Attorneys routinely turn away families alleging medical malpractice because of the restrictions on pain-and-suffering damages, said Jack T. Cook, a medical malpractice attorney with the Morgan & Morgan law firm.

“Turning down cases because there is no surviving spouse or children under age 25 is a weekly occurrence for us — multiple times a week,” he said.

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