To: The Florida State House, The Florida State Senate, and Governor Ron DeSantis
The Greatest Generation Does Not Deserve This
The Florida Legislature, under Governor Scott, has enacted Medical Malpractice Laws that discriminate against the elderly, to the point that the ‘greatest generation’ is the subject of genocide in Florida due to a person’s age.
How does this happen? When hospital facilities are stretched to the limit in Florida, the “Medically and Ethically Based” rules of triage (Those based on the Hippocratic Oath for decades in America) are replaced with “Loss Prevention Based” triage in the process of selecting who gets medical attention first.
In Florida, due to discriminatory age based liability laws, otherwise healthy elderly with imminent life threatening but correctable conditions are routinely denied healthcare in favor of others requiring less immediate and non threatening medical conditions because the elderly simply pose no financial threat to medical businesses, while the younger do pose a threat.
The tiered malpractice legislation, which is law in Florida, is the mechanism for the calculated premature death and suffering of many people over 80 years of age. This was the case with my mother, Alice. When she entered the Oak Hill Hospital in Spring Hill, Florida she had an acute and extremely lethal but correctable condition which required immediate action. When she entered Oak Hill Hospital she carried her health records in hand. She was given blood tests and send to an emergency ward. Her doctor was not reachable by phone. She was moved to a GI ward where the attending doctor took her off emergency status, ignored her symptoms, denied her secondary doctors the right to speak with him (illegally citing HIPPA as his reason) while my mother suffered an hideous 17 hours of tortuously agonizing and unnecessary death. Essentially, resources were allocated elsewhere for business reasons. A complaint was filed with the state medical examiner’s office and the hospital cited for the violation of many laws and accepted practices.
The medical staff at Oak Hill Hospital, managed by HCA, received reprimands, yet they still work there. The HCA Loss Prevention administrator tried, in vain, to stop my brother from documenting and filing a request with the medical examiner. This is the standard practice for all too many hospitals in Florida where the Greatest Generation is treated as second class citizens because of an age based liability law and pure profit motive.
The liability limit for medical malpractice in Fl for people over 80 years old is $250,000. The average cost for trial of a medical malpractice suit in Florida for expert witnesses and standard fees is over $250,000, thus lawsuits are seldom filed. This liability limit needs repealed. HCA and other for profit only hospital corporations can take comfort in the fact that the greatest generation will soon be gone.
Reverse this law and hold medical businesses accountable to medical ethics once again. Alice and all those still alive like her that loved and cared for others their whole lives deserve no less.
How does this happen? When hospital facilities are stretched to the limit in Florida, the “Medically and Ethically Based” rules of triage (Those based on the Hippocratic Oath for decades in America) are replaced with “Loss Prevention Based” triage in the process of selecting who gets medical attention first.
In Florida, due to discriminatory age based liability laws, otherwise healthy elderly with imminent life threatening but correctable conditions are routinely denied healthcare in favor of others requiring less immediate and non threatening medical conditions because the elderly simply pose no financial threat to medical businesses, while the younger do pose a threat.
The tiered malpractice legislation, which is law in Florida, is the mechanism for the calculated premature death and suffering of many people over 80 years of age. This was the case with my mother, Alice. When she entered the Oak Hill Hospital in Spring Hill, Florida she had an acute and extremely lethal but correctable condition which required immediate action. When she entered Oak Hill Hospital she carried her health records in hand. She was given blood tests and send to an emergency ward. Her doctor was not reachable by phone. She was moved to a GI ward where the attending doctor took her off emergency status, ignored her symptoms, denied her secondary doctors the right to speak with him (illegally citing HIPPA as his reason) while my mother suffered an hideous 17 hours of tortuously agonizing and unnecessary death. Essentially, resources were allocated elsewhere for business reasons. A complaint was filed with the state medical examiner’s office and the hospital cited for the violation of many laws and accepted practices.
The medical staff at Oak Hill Hospital, managed by HCA, received reprimands, yet they still work there. The HCA Loss Prevention administrator tried, in vain, to stop my brother from documenting and filing a request with the medical examiner. This is the standard practice for all too many hospitals in Florida where the Greatest Generation is treated as second class citizens because of an age based liability law and pure profit motive.
The liability limit for medical malpractice in Fl for people over 80 years old is $250,000. The average cost for trial of a medical malpractice suit in Florida for expert witnesses and standard fees is over $250,000, thus lawsuits are seldom filed. This liability limit needs repealed. HCA and other for profit only hospital corporations can take comfort in the fact that the greatest generation will soon be gone.
Reverse this law and hold medical businesses accountable to medical ethics once again. Alice and all those still alive like her that loved and cared for others their whole lives deserve no less.
Why is this important?
Stop the legislated discrimination and death sentence for profit of those over 80 years of age in Florida. In a civilized society, this cannot stand.