Please find suggested language for consumer attorneys to send to their clients. Dear [Client]:
The health care industry is lobbying state legislators in Albany to pass a bill which would severely limit the rights of all victims of medical malpractice.
The proposed bill would limit or "cap" pain and suffering compensation in all medical malpractice cases to $250,000, even for the most damaging medical mistakes, including those that leave a patient blind, paralyzed, brain damaged, disfigured, infertile or otherwise gravely injured for life. Caps would shield doctors and hospitals from the full consequences of their negligence.
This bill would also take away the rights of babies who suffer brain damage at birth due to medical negligence to be fully compensated in a court of law for their injuries. Instead, these children would receive very limited coverage for their future medical costs from a newly created state bureaucratic fund -- under conditions which would ensure that they will never receive the quality of care they need and deserve. Meanwhile, negligent hospitals and doctors will not be responsible for paying any of those costs. That's wrong.
If hospitals, doctors and insurance companies want to save money it should not be on the backs of innocents victims of medical negligence. The best solution to reducing costs is to reduce medical errors and the injuries they cause.
Tell Albany: Protect Victims and Stand up for Patients Rights.
Please write your state legislators and urge them to vote "NO" to arbitrary caps on damages and "NO" to taking away the rights of brain damaged babies, by clicking on to:
www.protectnypatients.org
Dear Legislator:
Please don't try and balance the budget on the backs of innocent victims of medical negligence. A bill now being pushed by the health care industry will not reduce the budget deficit. It will only reduce the rights of patients.
The bill puts an arbitrary "cap" on all medical malpractice awards, even for the most damaging medical errors, including those that leave a patient blind, paralyzed, brain damaged, infertile, disfigured or otherwise gravely injured for life. Caps would shield doctors and hospitals from the full consequences of their negligence. That's wrong.
This bill would also take away the rights of brain damaged babies whose life altering injuries were caused at birth due to medical negligence. Negligent hospitals and doctors would no longer be responsible for paying any of the child's future medical costs that result from medical negligence. Instead, a newly created state bureaucratic agency would provide them with limited coverage under conditions which will ensure that they never receive the quality of care they need and deserve. That's not right, either.
If hospitals, doctors and their insurance companies want to save money they should do so by improving patient safety, not by seeking to pass laws that would allow them to escape liability for the harm they cause. The best solution to reducing malpractice costs is to reduce medical errors and the lifetime of damage they cause.
I urge you to vote "YES" to improved patient safety, and "NO" to arbitrary caps on damages and to taking away the rights of brain-damaged babies.
Sincerely,
Client