Buffalo News: Another Voice: Grieving Families Act still needs revision

By: John Fudyma

his past June, the New York State Legislature passed an updated version of the Grieving Families Act. The previous version of this legislation was vetoed by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Jan. 30, 2023, in part due to the potential for unintended harm to health care delivery in New York State. Despite the modifications to the second version of this bill, the current legislation still increases the risks for unintended consequences affecting health care access and delivery. In addition, the Legislature did not perform a fiscal analysis of the new bill as requested by the governor with her veto.

As individuals who opted to pursue a professional path dedicated to patients and their families, we physicians understand the need to update the current law and recognize the need to compensate loved ones for pain and suffering due to wrongful death and injury. We just ask that the Legislature take the same approach as other states, which have enacted such laws but also included caps on damages to prevent harm to health care delivery and systems.

New York State already has a reputation as being one of the more difficult states for physicians to practice medicine (Best & Worst States for Doctors (wallethub.com). According to studies from Diederich Healthcare, New York had the highest cumulative medical liability payouts in the country from 2019-2021 of $1.4 billion.

A July 2022 actuarial study of the vetoed legislation concluded that the legislation was expected to increase New York’s already outrageously high medical liability premiums by nearly 40%. Furthermore, current actuarial data still reveals that the revised version of this bill does not adequately address the concerns identified in this study.

Our health systems post-pandemic continue to struggle financially. In addition, we are facing ongoing physician shortages, an aging workforce, and a practice environment that has led to high rates of physician burnout. Considering this, we strongly encourage Gov. Hochul to veto the current version and encourage the Legislature to work with health system and physician leaders to develop a bill that will allow us to instead invest resources into a more robust and ultra-safe system of health care.

John Fudyma, MD, MP, is President of the Erie County Medical Society.