On behalf of the entire MSSNY leadership, please accept our sincere gratitude for the successful advocacy campaign that YOU carried out, leading to the outcome of the veto of the Grieving Family Act. MSSNY was actively engaged from the beginning—working together with many allies on this issue, including MLMIC. We identified a sense of urgency and created a clear plan with our strong guiding alliance. We communicated our plan with the county leadership, and YOU executed that plan spectacularly. Thousands of phone calls were made, and emails were sent. Social media was buzzing, and so were the op-eds. This proves the power of grassroots action. The well-intentioned but extremely detrimental legislation would have exponentially increased the size of awards in wrongful death actions—legislation that could have increased your liability insurance premiums by 40%!! I am happy to report to you that the Governor DID NOT sign this bill into law, meaning it WILL NOT take effect. In case you missed it, Governor Hochul authored an op-ed in today’s New York Daily News, where she expressed great support for the concept of updating New York’s wrongful death statute, but also noting that “the unintended consequences of this far-reaching, expansive legislation would be significant, particularly for our already struggling health care system.” The governor’s veto does not mean that the discussion on this profound legislative topic is over. Far from it. We anticipate that the State Legislature will soon advance this or similar legislation. Please be alert for upcoming requests to contact your local Assemblymembers and Senators urging that any legislation to update New York’s wrongful death law be properly calibrated and balanced to help address the extraordinary costs of medical liability in New York State. Thank you again for all your efforts in this campaign to preserve healthcare access for New Yorkers. And a special thank you to local leadership, county executives, county presidents, hospital staff leadership, and all our partners. Parag Mehta, MD MSSNY President
New York physicians are invited to attend a short virtual meeting with the Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY) on new state legislation that will impact you and your patients. MSSNY won numerous victories that protect your ability to provide needed patient care and help fight back against health insurer abuse. But the legislature also passed a well-meaning but extremely problematic bill that could very well increase medical malpractice premiums by 40%, despite opposition from MSSNY, specialty societies, hospitals, businesses, insurers, cities, and counties. We must urge the Governor to veto the Wrongful Death bill before she acts on it in the coming weeks. Please take the opportunity to join us tomorrow night to learn more about these many issues. We encourage you to call Governor Hochul to urge her to veto the Wrongful Death bill on Wednesday, January 11, 2023 or as soon as possible afterward. Call 518-474-8390 and press option 3. Then press option 1 to leave a voicemail or option 2 to speak with an operator.
Register Now
Copyright ©2022 | Medical Society of the State of New York | All rights reserved
Our mailing address is: 865 Merrick Avenue Westbury, NY 11590 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.
Vaping continues to be a growing public health crisis for teens. Many adolescents don't understand the damage inhaling e-cigarettes can cause to their lungs and heart, or how vaping can lead to forming other addictive habits. The Center for Community Health & Prevention’s comprehensive nicotine cessation program provides encouragement, resources and medications to help individuals quit vaping.
Click below for details!:
https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:b1ca1532-d84f-3afb-8ee6-2ba2bf54271d
January is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month
Cervical cancer is most often diagnosed in women between the ages of 35 and 44. It is rare for women younger than 20 to develop this type of cancer.
Cervical Cancer | Common Types of Cancer | Understand Cancer Together
January is Thyroid Awareness Month | American Thyroid Association
Also...
How to Check Your Thyroid: 8 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow
Dear MCMS Members, Friends and Community Leaders -
The Monroe County Medical Society Leadership is asking you, county leaders, medical staff offices (both private and hospital-employed) to urge members, physicians, residents, fellows, staff, and friends and families to veto the Wrongful Death Bill by signing the petition at: https://bit.ly/3WN5q2f
Please sign the petition TODAY: call the Governor's office, use social media, and use your influence to stop this disaster. Urge Governor Hochul to veto the wrongful death bill at the MSSNY Grassroots Action Center.
As you know, MSSNY has opposed this bill at every turn, along with a broad coalition of specialty associations, hospitals, malpractice insurers (especially our close partner, MLMIC), cities and town governments and others. We have held meetings and sent emails urging action. Notwithstanding this opposition, the bill passed the Legislature. Since this summer, we have asked you and others to send letters and take other action to urge the Governor to veto the Bill. We have written over 7,000 letters to the Governor since June 1, some 1,600 in recent days (and a grand total of over 17,000 letters in 2022, mostly to our legislators).
We appreciate the effort and thank those of you who wrote multiple letters. Some 1,600 letters in the past week is a start, but not nearly enough.
We Need Your Help to Make One Last Push.
OUR ASK: Please ask all physicians, hospital leaders and the community to urge members, physicians, residents, fellows, and all staff (along with their friends and families) to sign the letter at the MSSNY Grassroots Action Center (https://bit.ly/3WN5q2f)
Ask everyone you can (including colleagues, family and friends) to send a letter, call Governor's office, use social media (tweet/post), send op-eds to your local newspaper, call the Governor’s office on January 10 (518-474-8390), and use any other influence to stop this disaster.
The wrongful death bill will expand our liability to close relatives, extend the statute of limitations time from 2 years to 3.5 years, and include compensation for companionship, anguish, and more. Liability premiums are estimated to increase by 40%, according to an actuarial study sponsored by MSSNY and the hospital associations. This will impact employed physicians as well, because your institution or large group will have less funds to pay you and your support staff. This Bill means lower income and less help for you.
Further, this bill will impact all New Yorkers – including all businesses and municipalities – with higher auto and homeowners insurance rates. Other states cap liability awards. New York does not. We need the Governor to veto this terrible bill.
Thank you for your action,
Parag Mehta, MD President, Medical Society of the State of New York (MSSNY)
Our Rochester winters can be gloomy and may lead to Seasonal Depression, clinically diagnosed as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Some symptoms can be quite severe and life threatening.
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) - Symptoms and causes - Mayo Clinic
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) - Symptoms and causes
Overview. Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that's related to changes in seasons — SAD begins and ends at about the same times every year. If you're like most people with SAD, your symptoms start in the fall and continue into the winter months, sapping your energy and making you feel moody.These symptoms often resolve during the spring and summer months.
www.mayoclinic.org
November is officially Lung Cancer Awareness Month. The event started back in 1995 as Lung Cancer Awareness Day. As the lung cancer community and movement grew, awareness activities increased. Therefore, it became apparent there was a need for a larger awareness campaign beyond just a day. For more information go to: https://www.lung.org/
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, an annual campaign to raise awareness of this complex disease and fund research into its causes, treatment, and cure. Since 1985, individuals, businesses, and communities have come together every October to show their support for the many people affected by breast cancer.
For more information go to: Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester | Home (bccr.org)
By Parag Mehta, MD, President Medical Society of the State of New York
Not very long ago, New York’s physicians and other health care workers were cheered as heroes for their efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.They risked their lives for their patients. They risked the lives of their loved ones as they provided this care.
Many physicians were sickened, and some died. Countless physicians continue to wear the emotional scars from these overwhelming circumstances.
However, the cheers are long forgotten.
Now, the physicians of New York face a potential new disaster, due to a well-intentioned—but egregiously harmful—bill recently passed by the New York State Legislature.
The recent legislation would exponentially increase the damages that are awardable under New York’s wrongful death statute. One actuarial study concluded the increased damages and the new lawsuits this bill would trigger would increase liability insurance costs for New York’s doctors and hospitals by nearly 40%.
Yes, 40%.
Liability costs are already an overwhelming component of the operating costs of your local hospital and doctor’s office. Can you imagine how hard it would be to manage if your mortgage or rent payment went up 40%?
Even if the liability cost increases necessitated by this bill amounted to half of what has been predicted, such cost increases are untenable.
If Governor Hochul does not veto this bill, patient access and continuity of care could be threatened across the state as physicians move to other states with more physician-friendly environments or retire early to avoid the staggering new costs this bill would impose.
New York physicians already pay among the highest liability premiums in the country. Many already pay tens of thousands of dollars a year for their coverage. Those who provide the most critical emergency care essential to our safety net—including neurosurgeons, cardiac surgeons and OB-GYNs—often face costs of $100-200,000 per year to provide this care.
Even before COVID, New York has long received the dubious designation as one of the worst states in the country to provide care, according to wallethub.com. In addition to New York’s excessive regulations, it has by far and away the highest liability costs and insurance premiums in the country.
For example, a report from Diederich Healthcare showed that in 2019, New York once again had the highest cumulative medical liability payouts of any state in the country, a whopping 68% more than the state with the second highest amount, Pennsylvania.
This is not just because of New York’s size. It also had the highest per capita liability payment of all the State, exceeding the second highest state Massachusetts by nearly 10%.
Some in support of this legislation have argued that New York’s existing wrongful death recovery law is an outlier compared to other states’ laws. However, what is not mentioned is that many of these other states—more than 30—have also enacted comprehensive provisions to contain excessive medical liability insurance costs, including limits on damages.
It is certainly appropriate to evaluate and determine the most responsible way to address gaps in New York’s liability laws. But it must be done in a responsible manner that controls the explosive increase in costs that such new lawsuits would inevitably cause.
To preserve access to our healthcare safety net, the Governor must veto this legislation and bring together various parties to discuss how best such lawsuit expansion can be achieved responsibly.
The citizens of New York need their physicians. The Governor must veto this bill so our physicians can continue to provide care to their patients.