Recognize blood clot signs.
Ask two questions before you go home.
After Emily Adkins died of a blood clot at the age of 23, her family changed Florida law to help others. This month, learn blood clot warning signs and what to ask before a loved one leaves the hospital.
Emily's story
Emily Adkins was just 23 when she died. In October 2022, after she broke her ankle, a blood clot took her life.
Her parents, Doug and Janet, wanted to know how many other Florida families had lost someone the same way. No one could tell them, because Florida did not track blood clots.
So Doug and Janet went to work. In 2023, they started with the Emily Adkins Blood Clot Prevention Act, which created the state’s first legislative workgroup on blood clots. The workgroup met in 2024. In 2025, the Legislature passed the Emily Adkins Family Protection Act with 52 co-sponsors and without a single vote against it, and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it into law. The law directs hospitals to check patients for clot risk, nursing home aides to learn the warning signs, and assisted living facilities to inform new residents. It also required the state to measure the problem for the first time.
Recognize the warning signs of a blood clot
A blood clot often starts in a person’s leg. If it breaks loose and travels to the lungs, it can be deadly. Catching it early matters.
If you notice these signs, get medical care right away.
Recognize the warning signs of a blood clot
Swelling, pain or warmth in a leg
Sudden shortness of breath
Chest pain
Ask before you leave the hospital
Florida's first blood clot report found that almost 45% of patients hospitalized with a blood clot were back in the hospital with another clot diagnosis within 15 days of going home. The report does not say why. It does show that the days right after hospital discharge matter.
Before you or someone you love leaves the hospital, ask two questions:
- What is my risk of a blood clot?
- What warning signs should I be aware of?
Write the answers down, and know what to watch for once you get home.
What Florida now knows
For the first time, Florida has counted blood clot cases. The Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) reviewed more than 16 million health records from July 2024 through June 2025 and found:
96,416 visits involving a blood clot in one year, about six in every 1,000 records reviewed.
Almost 45% of patients hospitalized with a blood clot had another hospital stay with a clot diagnosis within 15 days of discharge.
More than a third of those 96,416 visits involved adults ages 35 to 64. Blood clots are not only a problem of old age.
AHCA calls its count a conservative number because it leaves out doctors' offices, urgent care and clots that were never diagnosed. You can look up your county on AHCA's Statewide VTE Dashboard.
The law that carries Emily's name
The Emily Adkins Family Protection Act passed the Florida House 110-0 and the Senate 36-0 in 2025. It puts blood clot risks and warning signs in front of the caregivers who can catch them.
- Hospitals with emergency rooms assess patients for blood clot risk and train staff.
- Nursing home aides learn the warning signs.
- Assisted living facilities inform new residents
The law also called for Florida's statewide blood clot registry, the Florida VTE Registry. Hospital reporting began July 1, 2026. The Florida Department of Health oversees the registry, and the National Blood Clot Alliance runs it day to day. It uses information hospitals already record, so there is no extra work for caregivers.
Florida is the first state in the nation to require this kind of surveillance.
What you can do
Learn the warning signs and share them with your family.
Before a hospital stay ends, ask two questions:
- What is my risk of a blood clot
- What warning signs should I be aware of?
In the days after discharge, watch for the warning signs. If they appear, get care right away.
Share Emily's story, so another family learns the signs too.
For hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living
The law works when the people who deliver care put it into practice. This month, we are asking partners to do two things.
- Add the warning signs and the two patient questions to the materials patients and residents already receive at discharge or intake.
- Tell us what you are doing, so we can share it.
Hospital teams: the Florida VTE Registry has posted recorded overview webinars, slides and FAQs for hospitals. Reporting draws on data you already record, and the registry is building training resources for providers.
Download and share
Free resources to use and share.
A family of leadership
Douglas Adkins
President
Janet Adkins
Vice President
Douglas Adkins
Secretary & Treasurer
