The bill would establish a registry for blood clots, require facilities to screen patients for them and train staff on symptoms of blood clots.
FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. — Blood clots are responsible for killing more people in America every year than car crashes, AIDS and breast cancer combined.
House Bill 1421 was filed in the Florida Legislature to make Florida the leading state in the country in the fight against blood clots. The bill was written in memory of a young woman from Fernandina Beach.
Emily Adkins was full of life and beginning her career as a young woman shortly removed from graduating college. At just 23 years old she died from complications from a blood clot after fracturing her ankle. Her parents don’t want that fate to fall on any other family.
At his home in Fernandina Beach, Doug Adkins reviews the posters he hopes to put up in medical facilities across the state that detail the warning signs of blood clots.
“This bill is critically important to every family in Florida, it’s a kitchen table issue that’s affecting many Floridians,” said Adkins.
His family was forever affected when his daughter Emily died from a blood clot in 2022, and they’re not alone.
According to data gathered by a workgroup of medical professionals in the state, the number of patients with blood clots, and deaths from blood clots, increased over a 5-year period. You can read data from that workgroup here.
“We’ve got to be more proactive for people at risk, people at high risk of forming a blood clot,” said Adkins, “we’ve got to make sure if they have those risk factors that we’re being aggressive and protecting their very life and well being.”
The bill to establish the workgroup passed through the Florida House unanimously in 2023. The current bill in the legislature, HB 1421, which is also known as the Emily Adkins Family Protection Act, would establish a statewide Department of Health registry for blood clots, would require medical facilities to screen for blood clots and train staff on recognizing blood clot conditions and symptoms. If passed, Florida would become the first state with such documented policies about blood clots.
You can read the full text of the bill here.
“Maybe if we can save one other person, maybe just one other family, maybe just one other situation that we can prevent this from happening, this is one of the most preventable causes of death,” said Adkins.
Representative Dean Black filed the bill and wrote a statement to First Coast News that read: “This bill builds on the work we have done with the Blood Clot and Pulmonary Embolism Workgroup and honors the memory of Emily Adkins. It will save lives in Florida and set an example for other states.”
Back at his home in Fernandina Beach, Adkins hopes the bill helps prevent pain well after a patient leaves the hospital.
“Probably the most important thing at the kitchen table are the seats around the table,” said Adkins, “and when you lost a child it doesn’t matter what table you’re at, what restaurant you’re at, there’s an empty chair and that empty chair looks at you every time you’re at a meal, every time.”
The bill to create a new standard of care for blood clots in Florida is currently in 4 different subcommittees in the Legislature.
On Thursday afternoon Senate Bill 890, the companion bill to HB 1421, was moved to the Health Policy Committee agenda for Tuesday at 1:30 p.m.
Adkins said that he’s going to Tallahassee next week with copies of the workgroup report to ask members of the legislature to co-sponsor the bill.
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