It’s critical!
Lavern kin: Get moving on malpractice reform
ALBANY — A bill to help victims of medical malpractice faces another rough road in the state Senate — despite having more than enough support to pass.
Known as Lavern’s Law, the bill would start the window to bring medical malpractice cases when an error is discovered by the patient, not when the mistake occurred, as under current law. It now has 40 sponsors in the Senate — eight more than is needed.
And now the family of Lavern Wilkinson, after watching the bill die in the Senate the past two years, is hoping the third time is the charm. During a phone interview Monday, Wilkinson’s aunt and cousin emotionally called on the Senate to finally take up the measure long championed by the Daily News before the scheduled June 21 end of the legislative session.
“We’re begging for this to pass,” said Wilkinson’s aunt, Gloria O’Connor. “We’re asking please. We’re very very upset about it that it's taking so long.”
Added Wilkinson’s cousin, Marjorie Alexander: “I really don’t understand why they wouldn’t pass the bill. Something has to be done so another family won’t have to go through what we’re going through.”
Wilkinson was a 41-year-old Brooklyn mom who died in 2013 of a curable form of lung cancer after doctors at Kings County Hospital misdiagnosed her. By the time she sued, the window to file had expired. She left behind a 15-year-old autistic and developmentally disabled child who needs round-theclock care.
Lavern’s Law’s biggest backer in the Senate is Deputy Majority Leader John DeFrancisco (R-Syracuse).
But it is strongly opposed by the deep-pocketed medical establishment, which has argued that many of the states that have similar measures in place also have caps on pain and suffering awards and limits on total damages.
“It’s like every end of session: We won’t know until probably the last day whether it’s going to pass or not,” DeFrancisco said when asked if the bill will come up for a vote.
New York is one of six states without a date of discovery law. A JUDGE on Monday finalized a blockbuster $75 million settlement the city agreed to pay in a class-action lawsuit charging that the NYPD issued 900,000 summonses without legal justification to fill quotas.
“The nonmonetary benefits could be, in the court’s view, ‘a game changer’ for N.Y.C. communities,” Manhattan Federal Judge Robert Sweet said in approving the settlement.
The city maintains the NYPD does not use quotas.
Filed in 2010, the suit focused on “c summonses” officers wrote for minor offenses like disorderly conduct. Those who received the summonses will be eligible for payments capped at $150 per incident.