Scary time for New Yorkers! Governor Cuomo proposes law to shut down the rights of malpractice victims.

As part of a new Medicaid Redesign law, Governor Cuomo is pushing a new law that will dramatically deprive malpractice victims of their rights.  The new law is called Proposal Number 131 and it's serious bad news for patients, consumers and most importantly, all New Yorkers.

Governor Cuomo's Absurd New Proposal to Deprive Rights of the Severely Disabled

Here's how this crazy law will work (if passed by the legislature): Proposal Number 131 will place a cap of $250,000 on the maximum amount that can be recovered by a malpractice victim for their injury (also known as pain and suffering). $250,000 is not a small or insignificant amount of money, right? 

At first thought, it might seem to be until you consider the type of persons who will be victimized by this law, namely, 4 year old children with spastic quadriplegia and severe brain damage.  A little child who will never be able to walk, get a job or have a date and live his entire life in a wheelchair. $250,000 is all that is worth. Is that fair compensation for the severely disabled child?  The hospital and medical societies and insurance executives think that is more than fair.  The insurance executives enjoy seven figure salaries that would make Wall Street executives blush, but they of course earn every penny.

Governor Cuomo, unfortunately, wasn't finished with Proposal Number 131.  In addition to placing a cap on the amount that can be recovered, Governor Cuomo proposes a Neurologically Impaired Infant Medical Indemnity Fund.  This fund will limit the ability of children suffering from severe neurological handicaps to recover any compensation and force severely disabled children to participate in a fund that rations healthcare by government bureaucrats.  By removing the right of severely disabled children to bring a lawsuit, Governor Cuomo hopes to protect obstetricians from lawsuits for harm caused by their negligence.  This is a complete political handout to Big Insurance, medical societies, hospitals and doctors and unfortunately, severely disabled children will pay the price.

Will the new laws help improve medical care and reduce the 98,000 deaths caused by preventable medical errors in our country?  Not even slightly.  The new laws are not designed to improve medical care--rather, they are designed to immunize doctors and hospitals from liability.  Is that good news for you?  If you are an insurance executive it is.

Why you should care

What does all of this mean to you?  Probably not much...at least for now. When (God forbid) you have a child who is a victim of medical negligence and he/she suffers catastrophic injuries caused by preventable medical errors, your thoughts on the issue may change.  You should care about these absurd laws proposed by Governor Cuomo because they deprive the weakest in our society from getting the care they deserve.

What you can do about it

What can you do about this?  It's very simple: write a letter or e-mail to your state legislator asking that he/she OPPOSE those portions of the proposed Executive Budget that would implement the Medicaid Redesign Team's (MRT) proposal to cap non-economic damages for victims of medical malpractice and create a Neurologically Impaired Infant Fund.

Why should you care?  This is your children's and their children's future at stake.  Take action today to make a difference for your children's future. I promise you won't regret it.

I welcome your phone call if you want to learn more

If you want more information about Governor Cuomo's absurd new proposal, I welcome your phone call on my toll-free cell at 866-889-6882.  If you want more information about medical malpractice, please request my free book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims, from the home page of my website, www.protectingpatientrights.com.