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Medical malpractice legislation now making its way through the halls of the Albany Assembly has sparked heated debate over the nature of the reform. Ostensibly, the measure would end informal interviews between defendant doctors and their hospitals.
To Rory Lancman (D-Queens), the issue is one of patient privacy. Hospitals would not interview the defendant doctor without the plaintiff's lawyer present, in order to guarantee that patients' private information is not divulged.
Lancman and his co-sponsor, John DeFrancisco (R-Syracuse), have been maligned for personal interests as malpractice attorneys. They have thus far brushed such criticism aside as irrelevant to the core of this legislation.
The Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) has calculated the proposal would raise malpractice insurance by 5%, or $80 million annually. The reasons they give are "greater deposition costs and potentially higher settlements because the plaintiffs have access to a larger witness pool." The bill's sponsors believe these figures are unreliable: the GNYHA is a lobby group.
The NYS Bar Association opposes the bill because it limits access to witnesses. However, the bill's sponsors claim that access would not suffer. Rather, the bill is proposed so that access does not hinder patients' privacy concerns.
The entire proposal package also extends the patient's statute of limitations -- or the time it takes to bring the case to court -- and it increases attorneys' fees in malpractice suits. Currently the attorney's fees in a medical malpractice case are limited and were severely restricted in 1985 as a way to placate the defense insurance companies. The fee only starts at 30% and then decreases by 5% based on a sliding scale, until a ceiling is reached. In contrast, the attorney's fee in all accident cases in NY is 1/3 after the attorney's expenses.
If you would like more information about how medical malpractice and accident cases work in the state of New York, I encourage you to explore my educational website. If you have legal questions, pick up the phone and call me at 516-487-8207 or by e-mail at lawmed10@yahoo.com to answer your questions. That's what I do every day. I welcome your call.
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