Medical Malpractice Caps Absent From NYS Budget
According to Capitol Confidential, a budget agreement has been reached in Albany, and it does not include caps on medical malpractice awards. As many of you know, the Medicaid Redesign Team had proposed a $250,000 cap on non-economic damages, which would have unfairly impacted children, the elderly, the unemployed and under-employed.
No word yet on whether the Neurologically Impaired Infant Fund remains part of the budget. I hope not, since, among other things, nobody from the MRT has even been able to fully articulate where the money for such a fund would come from. Moreover, if compensation to a neurologically impaired infant is made through an administrative board instead of the courts, there will be little motivation for hospitals and individual physicians to focus on patient safety improvements. And, ironically, this “cost-saving” measure would simply shift the financial burden for a lifetime of care from those who caused the injuries, i.e. negligent doctors, to state taxpayers, who will ultimately be taxed when these infants are forced to turn to Medicaid.
But good news is good news. Medical consumers have won something today.
In New York State, Lots of Irony In Integrity
Integrity is a funny concept. Some define themselves by it, and live by its precepts. Others use it as a shield, behind which they act in ways that are anything but integrious. (Thanks to Antonin Pribetic, author of The Trial Warrior Blog, for pointing out this site, which provides an expanded definition of the term.)
With that in mind, let’s have a look at Capitol Confidential’s most recent post on Albany’s tort “reform” push. You may recall that the Governor’s Medicaid Redesign Team wants to impose caps on non-economic medical malpractice damages, and to take claims of infants neurologically-impaired by medical malpractice out of the court system, and into a state no-fault fund.
You may also recall that the same Team is comprised of leaders of hospital systems, a couple of politicians, and the Greater New York Hospital Association. In other words, it is, essentially, stacked with the very corporations that would benefit most if the tort “reforms” are made into law. This spurred an ethics complaint by a pro-consumer group, the Center for Justice and Democracy, about the composition of the MNR. Why, the Center wondered, were there no representatives from consumers’ rights groups or patient-safety groups, so that the voice of the people directly affected by medical mistakes could be heard?
According to Capitol Confidential, the ethics complaint made by the Center for Justice and Democracy to the New York State Commission On Public Integrity has been rejected. In fact, they have refused to even investigate the Center’s claims, according to the letter explaining its actions, found within the Capital Confidential post. It found no conflict because the MNR is just an “advisory” panel, so that there was no imbalance of power. Really?
Well, here’s something that consumers in New York State might be interested in. The good folks on the NYS Commission On Public Integrity serve at the pleasure of the Governor. And so, speaking of the subject of integrity, its members have a personal stake in pleasing the same entity. Could it be that the NYS Commission On Public Integrity was unduly influenced by that interest when it outright rejected the conflict of interest claim? And wouldn’t that be the ultimate irony?
But more important, don’t New York consumers deserve better?
Tort “Reformers” Ignore Failed Disciplinary System That Fosters Deaths
In the City of Brotherly Love, a/k/a Philadelphia, a physician with a rich history of medical malpractice was allowed to keep practicing, while state disciplinary authorities failed to take action. And 8 murder charges later, a grand jury has found that this laissez-faire approach to Dr. discipline was actually a “complete regulatory collapse.” (ABA Journal).
If you follow the link in the ABA Journal’s article, you can learn the grisly details, courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer, of the doctor’s killing of one adult patient, and his finishing off of 7 live babies that he delivered and then killed.
And if you’re wondering how this could have happened, I have one answer for you: doctor self-reporting. That is how much of the regulation of physicians is done here in the US, so that, not surprisingly, reports of errors are on the scant side. And also not surprisingly, this not only allows, but fosters a climate in which physician-caused injuries and death can proliferate. When some of these victims realize what has been done to them, they bring medical malpractice cases. But of course, that’s only after they see through the initial explanation that there was “an unavoidable complication.”
If you’ve been following the news, or even just following this blog, you know that these events are not rare. They are all too common. Forgetting about the human toll in the Philadelphia case for a moment, think about the expenses that are being racked up by this staggering failure of oversight and responsbility to patients: possibly 8 medical malpractice/wrongful death cases; and possibly an equal number of criminal cases. This one OB/GYN could send an entire state’s budget spinning.
Why haven’t we heard from the Greater New York Hospital Association or Healthworkers 1199 about atrocities like this, that happen in our state, too? Why don’t the people who claim to want to slash the “costs” of medical malpractice litigation even acknowledge this little problem? Shouldn’t tort “reform” aim to reform the mechanisms by which medical errors are caused? Just asking.