TALLAHASSEE - Florida Senate President Jim King on Friday appointed a special committee on medical malpractice to jump-start negotiations with the House on a bill to lower physicians' liability insurance premiums.
Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Treasure Island, will head the committee, which will meet for the first time Tuesday.
The House and Senate have each passed bills intended to lower rates, which have skyrocketed in recent years and forced some doctors to close their doors. The House and Senate remain far apart on how much to cap noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering, with the House sticking to Gov. Jeb Bush's preference for a $250,000 cap and the Senate including a $6-million cap on the most egregious cases of medical malpractice.
FCAT substitute, hospital expansion bills signed
TALLAHASSEE - Gov. Jeb Bush signed legislation Friday giving high school seniors an opportunity to graduate even if they fail the standardized Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test that has been a hallmark of his efforts to bring accountability to schools.
The bill (HB 23B) gives students who fail the FCAT a chance to earn a diploma by meeting other criteria, such as achieving prescribed scores on college entrance exams or passing tests used for entrance into the military. The Legislature passed it in special session Thursday.
Bush also signed a controversial bill to let a hospital serving a booming Central Florida retirement community expand without normal state regulatory approval.
The bill (SB 1568) would allow a few facilities in high-growth counties to expand their number of beds without going through normal regulatory approval. It was controversial because one of the few hospitals that would benefit is at the Villages, a retirement area developed by top Republican donor Gary Morse.
Appeal to move quickly in fetal guardianship case
DAYTONA BEACH - An appeals court has agreed to fast-track a case requesting that a guardian be appointed for the fetus of a mentally disabled rape victim.
A three-member panel of the 5th District Court of Appeal ordered the expedited hearings, meaning the issue could be decided in weeks instead of months.
The attorney for Jordan Wixtrom, the would-be guardian for the fetus, has until Friday to file more documents in the case of the 22-year-old woman known in court papers as J.D.S. Replies to those motions have to be filed by July 8.
The woman, who has the mental capacity of a young child, is more than six months' pregnant after being raped in a state-licensed group home.
Wixtrom asked Orange Circuit Judge Lawrence Kirkwood to appoint her as guardian for the fetus. Kirkwood denied her request this month, saying there is no basis in Florida law for it. Kirkwood did appoint a guardian for J.D.S.
Gov. Jeb Bush and Department of Children and Families Secretary Jerry Regier have pushed for naming a guardian for the fetus as well as for the woman.
Driver who deliberately hit black man gets 4 months
WEST PALM BEACH - A mentally ill white man who faced up to 40 years in prison for running down a black man with his car received a four-month jail sentence and 20 years' probation with mandatory counseling.
Prosecutors pushed for Jeffrey Schlosberg, 35, of Boynton Beach, to serve a long sentence for what they said was a hate crime, a claim jurors dismissed when they convicted him of attempted second-degree murder in April.
Circuit Judge Stephen Rapp said Thursday the attack was an "aberration" and ordered the probation, which requires constant maintenance and treatment of Schlosberg's bipolar disorder.
Jailed since his arrest in February 2002, Schlosberg had told police he tried to kill Link Crump and Michael Aikens because he hated blacks. Aikens dodged the car, but Schlosberg's 1996 BMW hit Crump, injuring his back and leg.
