Hochul vetoes bill that would have allowed larger court awards in malpractice deaths

ALBANY — Gov. Kathy Hochul has vetoed a bill intended to expand an 1847 law that limits court awards to families that suffered a "wrongful death" in medical care by ruling out payments for grief and anguish.

This was the third veto of similar bipartisan bills that sought to increase awards in malpractice cases in which death was blamed on medical care.

The fight in Albany involved powerful lobbying groups. Physicians, hospitals and insurance companies opposed the measure that could have increased liability insurance premiums, while trial lawyers who represent victims in wrongful death lawsuits fueled support.

In her veto issued Friday, Hochul said the measure would "reshape the legal framework for wrongful death actions." She has vetoed the measure three times and said "further deliberations are needed."

Similar versions of the bill, which supporters called the Grieving Families Act, were first introduced and debated in the legislature in 1994.

Current state law bases lawsuit awards on the lost income of the person who died from a wrongful death after an injury or illness or a reasonable award for the loss of a child. The law allows for court-ordered awards for "reasonable expenses of medical aid" when the death was found to have been caused by the medical care.

The bill would have expanded reasons for payment to include "grief or anguish caused by the decedent’s death," loss of the potential inheritance the deceased could have provided to his or her family, and "loss of nurture, guidance, counsel, advice, training, companionship and education."

Families that have suffered loss have argued that the current law hurts lower-income families most. Supporters of the bill said these families are limited to small awards and must compensate for the economic and emotional loss with fewer resources.

Hochul said that while the "pain and sorrow from losing a loved one because of the senseless, careless actions of another is indescribable," the bill would have likely triggered higher insurance rates for consumers and "risk the financial well-being of our health care system."

The Medical Society of the State of New York, an influential lobbying group for physicians, said it was grateful for Hochul’s veto. The group said the bill would have hit physicians hard, especially those serving poorer communities. The group instead said it supports "a reasonable cap on noneconomic damages."

Heather Mulligan, of the state Business Council, said the bill "threatened the stability of all aspects of our economy, including our health care system, government services, transportation systems, and schools, and would have saddled New Yorkers and small businesses with increased costs at a time when they’re already battling an affordability crisis."

The bill Hochul vetoed was scaled down by the legislature to include only close family members who could collect awards and limit a provision that would have applied to lawsuits in some recent years. 

"This third veto of the Grieving Families Act is a shocking dismissal of New Yorkers," said Victoria Wickman, president of the state Trial Lawyers Association. "How many more families have to suffer without justice before this governor takes action?"

By Michael Gormley

michael.gormley@newsday.com@GormleyAlbany

Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.