§ 768.21 — Wrongful-death damages
Read subsection (8) in the context of every damage category and survivor definition.
Open source ↗Statutes • cases • bills • executive action
Research library
Start with the enacted text. Then follow the judicial reasoning, the legislative record, and what changed over time.
Compiled and developed byTravis Brett CreightonFounder and principal researcher, Florida Hellthcare
Research attribution
Travis Brett Creighton
Founder and principal researcher. Creighton assembled the source record and developed this project’s integrated historical and constitutional analysis of § 768.21(8), the Wrongful Death Act, medical-malpractice repose, and the procedural barriers that can operate together.
Research discipline: Source links are provided for public education. Case summaries are concise descriptions, not substitutes for reading the full opinions or checking subsequent history.
§ 768.20 — Who brings the action
Florida funnels wrongful-death claims through the decedent’s personal representative.
Open source ↗§ 95.11 — Limitations and medical repose
Current two-year limitation, four-year outside bar, and the statutory concealment extension.
Open source ↗§ 766.106 — Medical-negligence presuit
Definitions, notice, screening, informal discovery, and presuit procedures.
Open source ↗Florida Constitution, Article I, § 21
The state guarantee that courts shall be open for redress of injury without sale, denial, or delay.
Open source ↗Kluger v. White, 281 So. 2d 1 (Fla. 1973)
The access-to-courts framework: reasonable alternative or overpowering public necessity with no alternative method.
Open source ↗Martin v. United Security Services, 314 So. 2d 765 (Fla. 1975)
Addresses the merger of personal-injury and wrongful-death remedies when the injury causes death.
Open source ↗Carr v. Broward County, 541 So. 2d 92 (Fla. 1989)
Upheld medical-malpractice repose under the 1975 crisis rationale and access-to-courts doctrine.
Open source ↗Mizrahi v. North Miami Medical Center, 761 So. 2d 1040 (Fla. 2000)
Upheld § 768.21(8) against equal-protection challenge under rational-basis review.
Open source ↗Estate of McCall v. United States, 134 So. 3d 894 (Fla. 2014)
Invalidated wrongful-death medical noneconomic-damage caps and examined whether the asserted crisis remained.
Open source ↗North Broward Hospital District v. Kalitan, 219 So. 3d 49 (Fla. 2017)
Extended the equal-protection analysis to personal-injury medical noneconomic-damage caps.
Open source ↗Santiago v. Rodriguez, 281 So. 3d 603 (Fla. 2d DCA 2019)
Applied binding Mizrahi precedent while certifying a changed-conditions constitutional question.
Open source ↗HB 6017 (2025) — passed, then vetoed
Official bill history, enrolled text, analyses, votes, and veto status.
Open source ↗SB 734 (2025) — companion path
Committee analyses and votes on the Senate repeal proposal that was laid on the table for HB 6017.
Open source ↗Governor’s HB 6017 veto event
The Florida Channel archive of the May 29, 2025 press conference announcing the veto.
Open source ↗HB 6003 (2026) — died in Rules
Official 2026 history of the clean-repeal bill after advancing through the House.
Open source ↗SB 1700 (2026) — died in Judiciary
Official history of the identical Senate bill.
Open source ↗