Today Managing Partner, Andrew Finkelstein & Senior Trial Attorney George Levy are in Albany meeting with legislators to help protect New Yorkers’ rights and access to civil justice.
Legislators are being urged to move forward on a number of topics that effect New Yorkers and their families, including:
1. Lavern’s Law. “New York is one of only a handful of states where people harmed by medical mistakes and their families are prevented from holding wrongdoers accountable. The deadline for bringing a civil action (“the statute of limitations”) for medical malpractice can run out before you can even find out that a medical error has been made.” -@PassLavernsLaw. If legislators choose to pass Lavern’s Law the statute of limitations would begin once a patient first discovers that he or she has been harmed by a doctor or hospital.
2. For “Grieving families” – Legislators are being asked to pass a law that recognizes the loss families have when a loved one is killed because someone ignores safety rules – whether it is medical safety or safety rules of the road. Parents, siblings and children should be able to recover for their emotional losses as they’re suffering is deep and must be recognized in New York.
3. Forced Arbitration. People should not have to sign away their rights to get medical care. Hidden in hospital and nursing home form contracts are mandatory arbitration clauses that take away individuals right to a civil jury. We are asking legislators to pass a law that makes such clauses unenforceable. For more information regarding forced arbitration, and how it applies to nursing home abuse and neglect click here.