The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday backed a bill that would establish in law elder-abuse fatality review teams.
The proposal (SB 400), sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville, would allow the teams --- comprised of representatives of law-enforcement agencies, medical examiner’s offices, area agencies on aging and the state Agency for Health Care Administration, among others --- to be established in each judicial circuit to review deaths of seniors.
Gibson’s bill is now ready to go to the full Senate. The House of Representatives is advancing a similar measure (HB 253), with the House Oversight, Transparency & Public Management Subcommittee approving the bill unanimously on Wednesday. Florida has the highest percentage of senior residents in the nation.