Take One Minute to protect patients and preserve the emergency health care safety net. Urge Governor Hochul to veto Wrongful Death Bill A6770 (Weinstein) S00074-A (Hoylman).

To sign and send the message below, click here or copy and paste the message into an e-mail to legislative.secretary@exec.ny.gov

Dear Governor Hochul:

I urge you to veto A6770 (Weinstein) S00074-A (Hoylman) which will exponentially expand damages and lawsuits for “wrongful death” by including compensation for grief or anguish. The expansion of liability costs created by this bill damages the healthcare safety net, drives physicians out of state and exacerbates the patient access to care crisis in New York.

Our state needs doctors to maintain quality health care. If the last few years have provided any lesson, we learned the physician workforce in New York is critical, to not just the public health but the financial health of the state as well. Our physicians were on the front lines in emergency rooms, intensive care units and at their offices providing critical health care to the state’s citizens. Now is not the time to enact punitive changes in law.

While estimates vary, one actuarial estimate found passage of this legislation could further increase premiums by nearly 50%. This translates into tens of thousands of dollars in new costs for physicians and could make it impossible for many physicians to stay in practice. New York already has a notorious history as being one the worst states in the country to deliver patient care (Best & Worst States for Doctors (wallethub.com), in large part because its liability costs and risks far exceed all other states.

Instead of driving more physicians out of New York we need to focus on implementing reforms to bring about a more fair and balanced Medical Malpractice System to assure patients do not lose access to critical physician-led medical care.

For all of the above reasons, I urge you to veto A6770 (Weinstein) S00074-A (Hoylman) and protect patient access to needed medical care.

Sincerely,