South Florida Personal Injury Lawyers Blog
Last updated August 28, 2026 · Reviewed by Carolyn Friedman Frank
Florida wrongful death law treats a death caused by medical care differently from every other kind of death. Florida Statute § 768.21(8) removes an entire category of damages from adult children when the death arises out of medical negligence, and removes the matching category from parents when the person who died was an adult child.
Florida Statute § 768.21(3) otherwise lets children of a person who died recover for lost parental companionship, instruction, and guidance, and for mental pain and suffering from the date of injury. Subsection (8) withdraws that recovery where the claim is one for medical negligence. The loss is identical, the family is identical, and the outcome turns on what caused the death. Our Miami medical malpractice attorneys explain this to families more often than any other rule in the statute.
The Two Categories Subsection (8) Takes Away
The bar is narrower than the shorthand suggests, and the distinction is worth holding onto. Florida Statute § 768.21(8) reaches two things. It bars the subsection (3) damages for adult children, meaning lost companionship, instruction, guidance, and mental pain and suffering. It bars the subsection (4) damages for parents of an adult child, meaning the parent’s own mental pain and suffering.
The word “adult” does not carry its ordinary meaning here, and the difference decides cases. Florida Statute § 768.18(2) defines minor children as children under 25 years of age, notwithstanding the age of majority. A 23-year-old who loses a parent to medical negligence is a minor child for this purpose and keeps the subsection (3) damages. The bar begins at 25.
What it does not touch is everything economic. Lost support and services under Florida Statute § 768.21(1) remain recoverable. Medical and funeral expenses paid by a survivor remain recoverable under subsection (5). The estate’s claim under subsection (6), which covers the decedent’s lost earnings and the prospective net accumulations of the estate, is unaffected. A family in this position has a case. What it does not have is the part of the case that reflects the grief.
The Same Death, a Different Cause, a Different Result
The trigger is the nature of the claim rather than the severity of the conduct. Florida Statute § 768.21(8) applies to claims for medical negligence as defined by Florida Statute § 766.106(1). A claim for medical negligence is a claim arising out of the rendering of, or the failure to render, medical care or services.
Two deaths make the point. An adult daughter whose father is killed by a distracted driver may recover for her mental pain and suffering under Florida Statute § 768.21(3). An adult daughter whose father dies because a hospital missed a diagnosis may not, because subsection (8) applies. Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada has handled Florida wrongful death claims across Miami-Dade and Broward Counties since 1976, and this is the hardest conversation in the practice.
Two Repeal Attempts, and Where the Law Stands Today
The Legislature has considered removing subsection (8) in each of the last two sessions. House Bill 6003, titled Recovery of Damages for Medical Negligence Resulting in Death, passed the Florida House in January 2026 and then died in Senate Rules on March 13, 2026, the day the session closed. A 2025 bill on the same subject also failed to become law.
As of August 28, 2026, no successor bill has been filed for the 2027 session. Subsection (8) is in force, and the section has not been amended since 2020. That matters practically rather than politically. Families sometimes hear that the law is about to change and decide to wait for it, and Florida’s limitations periods do not pause while a bill is pending. A claim that would have been viable in March can be time-barred by the time a session ends without passing anything, and no version of a repeal bill has proposed reviving claims that expired while it was under consideration.
Where a Medical Negligence Death Claim Starts
The damages available in these cases depend on who survived, how old they were, and whether the claim is one for medical negligence, and those questions get answered early. Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada has represented families across Miami-Dade, Broward, and Collier Counties since 1976. Call (305) 448-8585 or contact our Miami medical malpractice team for a free consultation. We work on contingency and there is no fee unless we recover.