New bill aims to address rare brain disorder alleged to have affected former local surgeon involved in lawsuits

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Lawmakers in Tallahassee are turning their attention to a neurodegenerative disease that is alleged to have affected a former orthopedic surgeon at Ascension St. Vincent’s Riverside for years before he stopped practicing.

It’s a story the News4JAX I-TEAM has been following for over a year.

The now-retired doctor, David Heekin, is accused in lawsuits of botching hundreds of surgeries and severely injuring patients from 2016 to 2020, when plaintiffs allege progressive supranuclear palsy was causing him to lose his balance and slur his speech.

RELATED | Lawsuits allege Ascension St. Vincent’s knew doctor wasn’t fit to operate, but allowed him to perform surgeries

Now, there’s a new bill inspired by a former state representative’s father who is battling progressive supranuclear palsy.

He’s hoping to bring awareness, as this little-known disease can take years to diagnose and have devastating impacts.

News4JAX spoke to former Central Florida Rep. Bob Cortes as he returned to Tallahassee on Wednesday afternoon — this time on personal business.

Cortes spoke at a state house committee meeting about his father’s journey with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, also known as PSP.

“It’s a little emotional, but I’m prepared because I think nobody better than me to deliver the message of why this is important,” Cortes said.

Cortes talked about how proud his dad was seeing him being sworn in in the House of Representatives and how much things have changed since then.

“You see, my father, Justo R. Cortes, gave me one of the greatest gifts anyone could give another person. My father believed in me,” Cortes said.

Cortes said his dad used to be healthy, independent and mobile. Now, he’s in a wheelchair.

He said they started noticing a dramatic change in his dad in 2016. There was constant coughing and choking and the beginning of unexplained falls backward that sent him to the emergency room multiple times.

“He’s been misdiagnosed many times. The diagnoses were, ‘no, there’s nothing wrong with him,’ was the first one, to being even possibly, Parkinson’s or ALS,” Cortes said.

Once his father got the proper diagnosis, he was able to get proper treatment, Cortes said.

MORE | 522 lawsuits filed against retired orthopedic surgeon, Ascension St. Vincent’s

The symptoms of PSP include a loss of balance, an inability to aim your eyes properly, problems swallowing, slow or slurred speech, dizziness and impulsive behavior.

According to Mayo Clinic, it’s an uncommon brain disorder that results from the deterioration of cells in areas of the brain that control body movement and coordination, among other important functions, and it can be difficult to diagnose.

For Cortes’ father, it took four years from his first fall to get the proper diagnosis.

“I had never heard of it,” Cortes said. “And I’m sure many of you had never heard of this disease prior to coming here today.”

Cortes is hoping to change that for people across the state, introducing this bill that bears his father’s name.

If passed, it would establish a policy workgroup to collect data on the diagnoses of PSP and other neurodegenerative diseases that Cortes hopes would help people, like his dad, get diagnosed quicker.

The bill made it through committee unanimously with several lawmakers speaking in its favor.