Lopez v. Kendall Healthcare Group, Ltd.
A father sued a hospital and EMT after the EMT photographed his critically injured son's leg without consent during emergency treatment and posted the photo on Instagram; the son later died without regaining consciousness. The Third DCA affirmed summary judgment for all defendants: IIED failed because the father was not present during the photographing and the Minneola dead-body exception does not extend to photographs of living persons; invasion of privacy failed because the photo did not identify the patient; and the EMT's personal social media posting was outside the scope of employment.
Key facts
- Jose Lopez Canizares was injured in a motorcycle accident and transported to Florida Kendall Hospital, where EMT Marcovich photographed his leg injury without consent during treatment and posted the photo to Instagram, tagging another EMT who reposted it; Canizares never regained consciousness and died three days after the privacy violation was reported to the hospital.
- The hospital notified Canizares's father and medical proxy, Jose Fabian Lopez, of the privacy breach on June 21, 2022, at the same time Lopez was deciding whether to discontinue his son's life support.
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Holdings
- IIED requires intentional or reckless conduct, outrageousness beyond all bounds of decency, causation, and severe distress. Steinmetz v. Pickholtz, 414 So. 3d 309, 316 (Fla. 3d DCA 2025).
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Why it matters
Definitively limits Florida's Minneola exception to circumstances involving an actual deceased person at the time of the tortious act. Third-party family members face very high hurdles recovering for IIED arising from… — full analysis with a trial
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