Florida Pro-Provider Laws

Against the backdrop of incessant tort reform spanning over 20 years that has severely impaired a victim's ability to recover damages, laws passed in the last three years have rendered it difficult for plaintiffs' attorneys to accept any case that does not have elements of overwhelming liability, extensive damages and insurance coverage. However, the state and federal courts may now be pushing back.

Damage caps, presuit screening requirements, the abolition of joint and several liability, the elimination of medical malpractice wrongful death actions for unmarried adults, penalties for agreeing to or not agreeing to arbitrate and a shoddy financial responsibility law that allows doctors to practice without insurance were already in existence when, in 2011, the following laws were enacted: Further damage caps on Medicaid victims; out-of-state expert certification and discipline; private medical school immunity; the lifting of prohibitions against physicians vetoing their insurance carriers' settlement decisions; the inadmissibility of insurers' reimbursement policies; the inadmissibility of evidence of a violation of federal standards; and mandatory authorizations allowing defendants to obtain a patient's medical records during the presuit screening process.