DeSantis kept Florida's 'free kill' rule. Donalds hasn't said if he will

The next governor has not decided

Byron Donalds, Florida's governor-elect, has not decided whether to end the state's "free kill" malpractice rule, he told WPTV in a report published Nov. 10. If malpractice kills your child who is 25 or older, Florida law bars you from recovering damages for your pain and suffering. Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a repeal on May 29, 2025, saying it lacked caps on damages and lawyers' fees.

Why it matters: Lawmakers voted 104 to 6 in the House and 33 to 4 in the Senate to end the rule, and the veto kept it. The Florida Hospital Association says repeal would raise malpractice premiums and payouts. The 2027 session, the first under Donalds, opens March 2.

The story so far: Since 1990, Florida law has kept grown children and the parents of a grown child from recovering these damages in malpractice deaths. A 2026 repeal passed the House and died in the Senate on March 13.

What's new: In June, as a candidate, Donalds said, "Caps is where it's going to begin and end." In WPTV's Nov. 10 report, he said he has not made a decision.

What the rule does

Florida's wrongful death law lets children recover for lost parental companionship and for their pain and suffering, and lets parents recover for theirs. But in medical negligence claims, those damages "shall not be recoverable by adult children," and the parents of an adult child may not recover theirs either. The law counts a child under 25 as a minor, so a child 25 or older is an adult child.

Florida Politics reports that Florida is the only state with such a law, and that Gov. Lawton Chiles signed it in 1990 as part of a wider wrongful death law. Critics call it the "free kill" law.

Florida's medical malpractice payouts came to $382 million in 2022, second only to New York, Healthcare Brew reported, citing Forbes. That count does not separate out death cases. Florida doctors also face the third-highest malpractice insurance premiums, it reported, citing the state's insurance regulator.

The veto and the fight over caps

The House passed the repeal, HB 6017, 104 to 6 on March 26, 2025, and the Senate passed it 33 to 4 on May 1, the Senate's record shows. Rep. Dana Trabulsy, a Fort Pierce Republican, sponsored it. A day before the Senate vote, senators rejected Sen. Clay Yarborough's amendment 18 to 19. Healthcare Brew reported that it would have capped payouts at $1 million.

DeSantis announced the veto at a news conference in Fort Myers on May 29, 2025, with Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, who also criticized the bill. His veto letter says the bill "does not include safeguards like caps on damages and attorney's fees." It says the bill would "drive physicians to leave the state" and "increase costs to provide healthcare services to Floridians, especially in our rural and aging communities."

DeSantis said the bill would "open Florida to a flood of lawyers seeking big pay days," Central Florida Public Media reported. His office said any reform "must include proper safeguards and reasonable caps to prevent abuse by predatory attorneys."

Trabulsy filed the repeal again for 2026 as HB 6003. "I intentionally filed this as a repealer bill, and as a repealer bill, it can have no amendments," she told WPTV. Asked about caps, she said: "No, because caps have been determined to be unconstitutional." Her bill passed the House 88 to 17 on Jan. 15 and died in the Senate Rules Committee on March 13.

Donalds's two answers

At a Hardee County event in June, as a candidate, Donalds said there is a way to get to yes on the law by agreeing to a cap on damages, Florida Politics reported. "Caps is where it's going to begin and end," he said. He added: "I want to make sure that if something goes wrong on the operating table, that the family has an ability to be made whole, because every life is sacred."

In its Nov. 10 report, WPTV said Donalds stopped short of committing to a position. "I'm aware of Gov. DeSantis's veto on this measure. Also aware of how many members of the Legislature supported it," he said. "We're just going to sit down, take a look at the issue, and render a decision. I've not made one at this time, but we're going to do what's in the best interest of the people of Florida." WPTV said it reached him on the campaign trail and did not give a date.

WFLA also reported that Donalds plans to look closely at the issue, seeking a balance between accountability and keeping health care costs down. "It's incredibly expensive for Floridians today," he told WFLA, which did not say when he spoke.

Donalds won the Nov. 3 election with 50.1% to Democrat David Jolly's 48.7% in the state's returns that night, Florida Trend reported. He takes office Jan. 5, CBS12 reported.

WPTV's count of the health care money

WPTV says campaign finance records "do not establish that the money influenced any lawmaker's vote or the governor's veto." By its count, more than $15.5 million from health care and lobbying interests went from 2017 to 2026 to committees tied to DeSantis and to the 10 lawmakers who voted against HB 6017. More than $12 million came from hospitals, doctor groups, insurers, nursing homes and other health care interests, WPTV counted.

By WPTV's count, committees tied to DeSantis, mainly his Florida Freedom Fund, got about $12.7 million since 2017, including $170,000 in the weeks and months before the veto. WPTV says the contributions came over several election cycles and "were not necessarily connected to HB 6017." None of the lawmakers or DeSantis answered WPTV.

"Political contributions alone are not evidence that a politician changed a vote or policy decision in exchange for money," University of Central Florida political scientist Aubrey Jewett told WPTV. "Gov. DeSantis did say that he would sign off on a similar bill as long as it had some caps," he said.

Their side

DeSantis has called such suits "jackpot justice" and said he could not back the bill without a limit on damages, Central Florida Public Media reported. Mary Mayhew, president of the Florida Hospital Association, told Healthcare Brew the bill would have raised malpractice premiums and payouts. "We already are at a disadvantage because of our litigious climate," she said.

Repeal backers carried both chambers by wide margins. Trabulsy rejects caps, saying they "have been determined to be unconstitutional."

What's next

What's next: The Senate meets to organize at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17. Committee weeks start Nov. 30, Donalds takes office Tuesday, Jan. 5, and the 2027 session opens Tuesday, March 2.

Sources we read

The Florida Senate: HB 6017 (2025) and HB 6003 (2026) bill histories, and its home page calendar. Online Sunshine: Florida Statutes ss. 768.21 and 768.18. Executive Office of the Governor, May 29, 2025. FOX 13 Tampa Bay, May 29, 2025. Central Florida Public Media, May 30, 2025. Healthcare Brew, June 3, 2025. WPTV (Kate Hussey), Nov. 10, and its Trabulsy report. WFLX, Nov. 10. WFLA (Mackenzie LaPorte) via Yahoo News, Nov. 11. Florida Politics (A.G. Gancarski), June 18. Florida Trend and News Service of Florida, Nov. 4. CBS12, Nov. 4. The Florida Bar News, Aug. 7.