NYCLA Joins With State Bar in Opposing Proposal to Cap Malpractice Cases
On March 14, the New York County Lawyers' Association (NYCLA) Board of Directors adopted a report (attached or available by clicking on this link: NYCLA Report ) and joined with the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA) in opposing Proposition 131 of the Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT), which would cap non-economic damages in malpractice cases at $250,000.
According to the NYCLA report, the proposed caps "impinge upon powers traditionally left to the finder of fact and the independent judiciary; would not bring about significant cost savings since medical malpractice costs amount to an infinitesimal percentage of total health care spending; have not necessarily resulted in decreased medical malpractice premiums in other states where such caps have been implemented; would unacceptably affect senior citizens, women and children, groups that rely disproportionately on suits alleging non-economic damages, to the extent that they are less able to claim lost wages and other economic damages; and have been adopted after a flawed procedural process and should be subject to additional notice and comment."
The NYCLA report enumerated several other reasons for its opposition to the MRT's proposal, such as its assertion of resulting significant cost savings. In fact, as the Report states, recent studies indicate that "...medical malpractice premiums and other medical malpractice payments amount to less than 2% of total health care expenditures. (Congressional Budget Office, "Limiting Tort Liability for Medical Malpractice," 1/08/04). Thus, even drastic reductions in the extent of medical malpractice litigation could have only a minimal effect on overall health spending."
The NYCLA report concludes, in part, "For these reasons and those outlined in the NYSBA Memo, NYCLA believes that the question of changes to medical malpractice caps should be considered in a more reasoned fashion, with input from attorneys, members of the civil justice system and proponents of patients' rights."
The New York County Lawyers' Association ( www.nycla.org ) was founded in 1908 as the first major bar association in the country that admitted members without regard to race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual identity. Since its inception, it has pioneered some of the most far-reaching and tangible reforms in American jurisprudence and has continuously played an active role in legal developments and public policy.