Florida Wrongful Death Law Restricts Grieving Mother from Filing Lawsuit
A grieving mother in Florida is unable to file a lawsuit against the surgeon who performed a routine operation on her son, which ultimately led to his death.
The state’s controversial wrongful death law prohibits parents of children over the age of 25 from suing for medical malpractice.
The law was created three decades ago to address a surge of malpractice lawsuits, but it has since created more problems.
The mother, Cuomo, wanted to find out what went wrong during her son’s operation but was told by several attorneys that they could not help her due to the state law.
Christopher Cuomo, an active 46-year-old, underwent laparoscopic surgery for a hernia, but about nine hours into the procedure, he was placed in a medically induced coma.
He remained in a coma for 23 days before passing away.
Cuomo’s mother was devastated by the loss of her son, who had trusted her more than anyone in the world.
She believes that changes need to be made to Florida’s wrongful death law to allow families to hold medical professionals accountable for their actions.
Proposed changes to remove the age restrictions have been introduced in the Florida House for the past two years but have not made it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Some lawmakers fear that removing the restrictions would lead to a flood of lawsuits.
However, a new chairman and renewed hope from Cuomo and others may increase the chances of the changes being passed this year.
The Department of Health has yet to respond to Cuomo’s complaint, and the debate on the proposed changes is set to start next week.
