NY State Senate Bill 2017-S2733

Senate Bill S2733

2017-2018 Legislative Session

Requires hospital incident reports to be simultaneously provided to the affected patients and/or their legal representatives

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Judiciary Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 03, 2018	referred to judiciary
Jan 17, 2017	referred to judiciary

co-Sponsors

2017-S2733 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A2916
Current Committee:: Senate Judiciary
Law Section:: Civil Practice Law and Rules
Laws Affected:: Amd §214-a, CPLR; amd §2805-l, Pub Health L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2009-2010: A9114
2011-2012: S1982, A4909
2013-2014: S578, A2138
2015-2016: S2426, A4966

2017-S2733 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires general hospital which submits an incident report to the department of health to simultaneously provide a copy of such report to the affected patients and/or their legal representatives; stays the statute of limitations for medical, dental and podiatric malpractice causes of action until one year after an incident report is submitted.

2017-S2733 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S2733

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the civil practice law and rules and
the public health law, in relation to the provision of hospital
incident reports to the affected patients or their representatives

 PURPOSE :

This bill would extend the statute of limitations in medical, dental
or podiatric malpractice actions against a hospital where the hospital
has violated section 2805-1 of the public health law by failing to
file an incident report as mandated by that section. It also requires
such reports to be sent to the patient and their representative.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 provides that this legislation shall be known as the
"Patient Sunlight Act"

Section 2 amends section 214-a of the Civil Practice Law and Rules,
creating a tolling provision for the statute of limitations in a
medical, dental or podiatric malpractice action so that where there is
a failure by a hospital to file an incident report as mandated by the
public health law, a plaintiff has a year from the date of filing of
such report in which to commence an action.

In addition, it tolls the statute limitations in a medical, dental or
podiatric malpractice action so that where an action is time-barred
against an individual health care service provider, an action may
still be commenced against a hospital where either the individual or
the hospital has failed to file an incident report as mandated by the
public health law, a plaintiff has a year from the date of filing of
such report in which to commence an action.

Section 3 amends section 2805-1 of the Public Health Law by adding a
new subdivision 2-a requiring incident reports submitted to the
Department of Health under section 2805-1 of the Public Health Law
also be sent to the patient and his or her representative.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Despite having been a requirement for over twenty years, there are
abundant reports of hospitals failing to file incident reports as
mandated by the public health law. These incident reports are required
in order to give the Department of Health notice that a significant
incident has occurred, such as a patient death under circumstances
other than as a result of the course of disease, injury or proper
treatment. It also includes situations that harmed patients, such as
fires, equipment malfunctions, or poisonings. According to a Harvard
study, over 1,000 New Yorkers die each year as a result of preventable
medical errors.  Clearly, these reports are a significant tool that
should be used to prevent the recurrence of harm or death to patients.

Yet by failing to timely file such reports, hospitals are preventing
the Department of Health from asserting its authority to make sure the
public is adequately protected in the case of substandard patient care
of hospital environment.

Furthermore, the law currently fails to permit notification to those
most directly affected by such unfortunate events-the patient
themselves, as well as family or others who are designated to help
make crucial decisions for the patient. By tolling the statute of
limitations on malpractice actions against hospitals, such
institutions are incentivized to obey the clear letter of the law.
Furthermore, hospitals will not be able to protect themselves from
liability for their harmful actions simply by ignoring the law, and
thereby further harming the patient in question first by whatever
action led to the requirement of filing the incident report, then
again by not filing the report, thus preventing the patient or their
representative from accessing information that could help them recover
damages for their death or injury.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

2016:Died in Judiciary
2015:Died in Judiciary
2014:Senate Bill 578(Gianaris)-Died in Senate Judiciary Committee
2012:Senate Bill 1992-A (Gianaris)-Died in Senate Judiciary Commit-
tee
2012:Assembly Bill 4900-A (Simotas)-Died in Assembly Codes Committee
2010:Assembly Bill 9114(Gianaris)-Died in Assembly Codes Committee

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
Immediately.

2017-S2733 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   2733
 
                        2017-2018 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 17, 2017
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sens. GIANARIS, STAVISKY -- read twice and ordered print-
   ed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Judiciary
 
 AN ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules and the  public  health
   law,  in relation to the provision of hospital incident reports to the
   affected patients or their representatives

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Short  title. This act shall be known and may be cited as
 the "patient sunlight act".
   § 2. Section 214-a of the civil practice law and rules, as amended  by
 chapter 485 of the laws of 1986, is amended to read as follows:
   §  214-a.  Action  for  medical, dental or podiatric malpractice to be
 commenced within two years and six months; exceptions. 1. An action  for
 medical,  dental  or  podiatric malpractice must be commenced within two
 years and six months of the act, omission or failure  complained  of  or
 last treatment where there is continuous treatment for the same illness,
 injury  or  condition which gave rise to the said act, omission or fail-
 ure[; provided, however, that where].
   2. (A) NOTWITHSTANDING THE  PROVISIONS  OF  SUBDIVISION  ONE  OF  THIS
 SECTION, AN ACTION FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR PODIATRIC MALPRACTICE NEED NOT
 BE  COMMENCED  WITHIN  TWO  YEARS AND SIX MONTHS OF THE ACT, OMISSION OR
 FAILURE COMPLAINED OF OR LAST TREATMENT WHERE THERE IS CONTINUOUS TREAT-
 MENT FOR THE SAME ILLNESS, INJURY OR CONDITION WHICH GAVE RISE  TO  SAID
 ACT,  OMISSION  OR  FAILURE,  IF THE DEFENDANT IS A GENERAL HOSPITAL, AS
 DEFINED IN SUBDIVISION TEN OF SECTION TWENTY-EIGHT HUNDRED  ONE  OF  THE
 PUBLIC  HEALTH  LAW,  AND  HAS  FAILED  TO  FILE  AN INCIDENT REPORT, AS
 REQUIRED  BY  SECTION  TWENTY-EIGHT  HUNDRED  FIVE-L  OF  SUCH  LAW,  IN
 CONNECTION  WITH  THE  INCIDENT  THAT  IS THE SUBJECT OF THE MALPRACTICE
 ACTION. IN SUCH CASE, THE ACTION MAY BE COMMENCED WITHIN ONE YEAR OF THE
 DATE SUCH INCIDENT REPORT IS FILED.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD04204-01-7

 S. 2733                             2
 
   (B) NOTWITHSTANDING THE PROVISIONS OF SUBDIVISION ONE OF THIS SECTION,
 AN ACTION FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL  OR  PODIATRIC  MALPRACTICE  NEED  NOT  BE
 COMMENCED  WITHIN TWO YEARS AND SIX MONTHS OF THE ACT, OMISSION OR FAIL-
 URE COMPLAINED OF OR LAST TREATMENT WHERE THERE IS CONTINUOUS  TREATMENT
 FOR  THE  SAME ILLNESS, INJURY OR CONDITION WHICH GAVE RISE TO SAID ACT,
 OMISSION OR FAILURE, WHERE SUCH ACTION IS AGAINST A GENERAL HOSPITAL, AS
 DEFINED IN SUBDIVISION TEN OF SECTION TWENTY-EIGHT HUNDRED  ONE  OF  THE
 PUBLIC HEALTH LAW, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH ACTION IS OTHERWISE BARRED
 BY  SUBDIVISION  ONE OF THIS SECTION AGAINST ANY PERSON LICENSED, CERTI-
 FIED OR REGISTERED PURSUANT TO TITLE EIGHT OF THE EDUCATION  LAW,  WHERE
 SUCH  INDIVIDUAL  OR  GENERAL  HOSPITAL  HAS  FAILED TO FILE AN INCIDENT
 REPORT, AS REQUIRED BY SECTION TWENTY-EIGHT HUNDRED FIVE-L OF SUCH  LAW,
 IN  CONNECTION  WITH THE INCIDENT THAT IS THE SUBJECT OF THE MALPRACTICE
 ACTION. IN SUCH CASE, THE ACTION MAY BE COMMENCED WITHIN ONE YEAR OF THE
 DATE SUCH INCIDENT REPORT IS FILED.
   3.  WHERE the action is based upon the discovery of a  foreign  object
 in  the body of the patient, the action may be commenced within one year
 of the date of such discovery or of the date of discovery of facts which
 would reasonably lead to such discovery, whichever is earlier.  For  the
 purpose  of  this  section  the  term  "continuous  treatment" shall not
 include examinations undertaken at the request of the  patient  for  the
 sole  purpose  of ascertaining the state of the patient's condition. For
 the purpose of this section the term "foreign object" shall not  include
 a chemical compound, fixation device or prosthetic aid or device.
   §  3.  Section  2805-l of the public health law is amended by adding a
 new subdivision 2-a to read as follows:
   2-A.  NOTWITHSTANDING ANY PROVISION OF LAW TO THE CONTRARY, COPIES  OF
 ANY  REPORTS  SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION SHALL
 SIMULTANEOUSLY BE PROVIDED TO:
   (A) THE PATIENT OR PATIENTS WHO WERE AFFECTED IN SUCH A MANNER  AS  TO
 REQUIRE THE SUBMISSION OF SUCH INCIDENT REPORT;
   (B)  IN  THE  EVENT  SUCH A PATIENT IS DECEASED OR INCAPACITATED, SUCH
 REPORT SHALL BE PROVIDED TO THE PATIENT'S LEGAL  REPRESENTATIVE  OR  THE
 LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE PATIENT'S ESTATE; AND
   (C)  THE  PERSONS,  FAMILY OR OTHER PARTY IDENTIFIED IN THE HOSPITAL'S
 RECORDS AS THE PARTY OR PARTIES DESIGNATED BY SUCH PATIENT FOR NOTIFICA-
 TION OR CONSULTATION IN THE EVENT OF THE PATIENT'S INCAPACITY OR DEATH.
   § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.

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Senate Bill S2733

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Sponsored By

Michael Gianaris