Act Now to Prevent Harmful Medical Malpractice Proposed Legislation

Good afternoon,

The Western New York Healthcare Association stands united with the Healthcare Association of New York State and our allied regional associations against a proposed and potentially harmful proposal to extend the statute of limitations in Medical Malpractice legislation.  While the bill (S.911-A--2015 (Libous)) seems to be a positive step for patients, in reality the legislation stands to increase costs and scheduling burdens on courts statewide, while further driving physicians out of New York State as the proposal's lax timeline is highly likely to increase medical malpractice insurance costs for practitioners: 

Legislation (A.285 and S.911-A) backed by New York’s trial lawyers would change New York State’s medical malpractice statute of limitations.  While patients who are the victims of malpractice deserve justice and fair compensation, this proposed law does nothing to further those goals.  In fact, it would have negative consequences for our entire healthcare system.

New York’s world class doctors and hospitals already spend billions annually on medical malpractice coverage—the highest in the nation.  This legislation would increase these already enormous costs by hundreds of millions of dollars and further divert vital patient care resources.

New York’s medical malpractice statute of limitations is among the longest in the nation, with important exceptions for children and patients undergoing continued treatment.

Unlike New York State, many states with provisions similar to those in this bill also have reasonable caps on the amount that can be recovered for pain and suffering, and some even cap total damages.

This proposed legislation is the wrong approach to fix New York’s medical malpractice system. 

We urge the New York State Legislature to consider a comprehensive package of medical malpractice reforms that will strengthen New York’s entire health care system, and to reject

piecemeal legislation.

Click on the images below; right-click, and click on 'view image' then click on plus sign to magnify view of our Letter to the Editor and Memo of Opposition to S-911A, here:

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