MSSNY President Robert Hughes, MD Responds To Daily News Articles Regarding Medical Malpractice

WESTBURY, NY (03/01/2013)(readMedia)-- "The physicians of New York are very sympathetic to the plight of LaVern Wilkinson and her family. However, we are greatly concerned that the Daily News articles do not sufficiently detail the severe consequences to patient access to New York's health care system if legislation to change the statute of limitations were to be enacted.

Multiple actuarial analyses have highlighted that this legislation would trigger a dramatic increase in medical liability insurance premiums for physicians and hospitals at a time when no increases in these costs can be tolerated. New York physicians, particularly those in the New York City metropolitan area, pay liability premiums that are among the highest levels in the country. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, New York has by far and away the highest total number of medical liability payouts in the country, far exceeding similarly sized states such as California, Florida and Texas.

While physicians face cuts to Medicare, they continue to experience great difficulty in being paid fairly by health insurance companies. Add to that the growing squeeze between rising overhead costs and decreasing revenues that make practicing medicine for many physicians unsustainable. With the private practice of medicine providing the second highest number of employer establishments in New York and the 6th highest number of total employees, jobs for many are threatened. This legislation would greatly exacerbate this problem.

At a time when so many New Yorkers will become newly insured and seeking care as a result of ObamaCare, we must find ways to reduce the exorbitant costs, not increase them. Further increases in these costs will undoubtedly cause significant disruptions in the health care systems as many physicians will simply be unable to afford the extraordinary premiums this legislation would require. Hospitals may very well be forced to close.

Proponents of this measure argue that many other states have incorporated such "date of discovery" exceptions into their statutes of limitation for medical liability actions. However, it must be noted that well over half of these states with "date of discovery" rules also have enacted caps on non-economic damages in medical liability actions, thereby significantly offsetting the enormous costs of this provision. Moreover, those states that have "date of discovery" rules, but no caps on damages, include Alabama, Delaware, Iowa, Kentucky, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wyoming, where physicians pay far less in medical liability insurance premiums than those paid by physicians in New York City, Long Island and the Hudson Valley.

We urge the Legislature to enact comprehensive medical liability reform and reject piecemeal changes to the liability adjudication system that will jeopardize patient access to our health care system."

Founded in 1807, the Medical Society of the State of New York is the state's principal non-profit professional organization for physicians, residents and medical students of all specialties. Its mission is to represent the interests of patients and physicians to assure quality healthcare services for all.

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