Autopsy reports for people who died by suicide and media depicting the act will be shielded from public view under a new Florida law.
The measure (SB 474), which Gov. Ron DeSantis quietly signed, exempts from general public records requests photos, videos and audio recording of people taking their own lives.
It does the same for related corner documents.
Surviving spouses, adult children or siblings can still access autopsy reports, and people who want to access the records can seek a court order to obtain them. A court could authorize the release of the material, including media of the suicide, if it determines the public’s need to evaluate government performance outweighs a family’s right to privacy.
Florida today has similar restrictions for media depicting the killing of police officers, minors and victims of mass violence.
DeSantis approved SB 474 on Friday. Fort Pierce Republican Rep. Dana Trabulsy carried an identical companion bill (HB 529) in the House.
For the bill’s sponsor, Vero Beach Republican Sen. Erin Grall, it was a personal and emotional issue. In late 2016, her husband’s firefighter cousin, David Dangerfield, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound shortly after posting a message to Facebook about post-traumatic stress disorder.
Less than two years later, Grall delivered a tearful speech about Dangerfield’s death on the House floor during a discussion of a bill to expand workers’ compensation benefits for traumatized first responders.
Then-Gov. Rick Scott, now a U.S. Senator, signed the measure three weeks later.
She cried while explaining SB 474 in its first committee stop in December.
“I think we’ve all been touched by suicide, some of us more recently than others,” she said. “Sometimes when we’re touched by certain things, that causes us to look at the law … in a way that (is) different, and that’s what happened here. It really made me ask the question, ‘Why? … What is the public purpose of these types of videos and photos being made available in what can be very difficult times for families and communities?’
“In working on this bill, I have found that I’m not alone and so many more people than we all realize have been touched by suicide, and their lives have been shaped by the outcomes of that. And I think we should do everything we can to limit what can be the contagion of suicide when … these types of images are shared and glamorized or offered as an option. I think it’s our responsibility to limit the tragedy that suicide is.”
Barbara Petersen, Executive Director of the Florida Center for Government Accountability, said at the bill’s last committee stop this month that she worried it could be used to cover up “questionable deaths.”
Over the years, some Florida journalists have sought autopsy reports for investigative stories, such as for cases where someone’s reported suicide seemed suspicious.
“What was the impetus for the bill — a question rarely answered,” she said. “Our legislators need to remember that every exemption created is an exception to the constitution. Frankly, I’ve never been this dispirited about the state of open government in Florida.”
Lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle were not as troubled by the law’s potential misuse. SB 474 passed with unanimous support in both chambers.
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Gabrielle Russon contributed to this report.
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