Urge Gov to Veto Wrongful Death Liability Expansion
Yesterday, my letter to the editor entitled Wrongful-death bill won’t improve maternal health outcomes ran in the Times-Union in response to Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn’s op-ed. I wrote that Assemblymember Bichotte Hermelyn should be commended for her courage and willingness to share her story and that physicians across New York state wholeheartedly agree that more must be done to eliminate disparities in women’s healthcare outcomes. I went on to explain that the bill to expand liability would ultimately undermine access to care, especially when it comes to maternal and reproductive healthcare and that medical students already cite high liability costs and fear of being sued as reasons for not training as OB-GYNs. An actuarial analysis of the legislation under consideration projects a 40 percent increase in medical professional liability insurance.
Increasing the types of payouts available in lawsuits means increasing the cost of insurance. For OB-GYNs and other physician specialists, New York is already home to the highest medical professional liability premiums. That isn’t good for attracting more doctors to practice here.
When it comes to the case of Laverne’s Law, the law was significantly amended to reduce the impact on physician’s insurance premiums. Still, over the last two years, medical professional liability insurance premiums increased by nearly 10 percent. This is contrary to claims that premiums have decreased.
To solve disparities in healthcare outcomes, lawmakers should focus on funding community hospitals and incentivizing OB-GYNs, not pricing them out of practicing here.
The time to act is now. As you know, this legislation (A.6698/S.6636) does not address the concerns raised by MSSNY and many other groups, as it would significantly increase the type of awardable damages in New York. One recent actuarial estimate indicated that passing legislation to include the awarding of non-economic damages could require a liability premium increase of nearly 40%, which translates to tens of thousands of dollars in new costs for physicians making it impossible for many to stay in practice. These kinds of increases are untenable and could have negative consequences on patient access to care at community hospitals and physician offices, particularly as we continue to recover from the pandemic.
Please contact Governor Hochul today by email and phone and urge that she VETO this bill (A.6698/S.6636). Call Governor Hochul at 518-474-8390. Press Option 3, then press Option 1 to leave a voicemail or Option 2 to speak with a person.
MSSNY stands ready to work with the Governor, Senate, and Assembly on a revised bill to ensure legal remedies for grieving families, but it also must protect the ability of New York’s physicians, hospitals, and healthcare workers to deliver the care our patients expect and deserve. They cannot do this if the legislature increases their enormous liability insurance cost burden, which already exceeds every other state in the country. Worst of all, these costs would disproportionately impact physicians working in underserved communities.
Please tell the Governor that any renewed legislation to update New York’s wrongful death law must be balanced to address the extraordinary medical liability costs in our state.
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