Patricia Donnelly was interviewed by the Journal News at Tuesday's rally.
Thank you to Patricia and all the survivors who stood in the hot sun on Tuesday to tell their stories.
THE JOURNAL NEWS
May 21, 2003
Statewide doctor rally calls for tort reform
By MELISSA KLEIN
NEW YORK — Hundreds of doctors wearing white coats and chanting "Tort Reform Now" rallied in front of
state Supreme Court yesterday, calling for limits to pain-and-suffering awards in malpractice cases.
The lunchtime rally was one of 21 "Stand Up"
protests held across the state yesterday, organized by the Medical Society of the State of
New York. An opposition rally was held in New York City across the street from the
doctors.
"We're sending a message to our patients and to our fellow citizens and to our legislators that
time has come for tort reform," said Dr. Jeffrey Ribner, a Binghamton neurologist who is president
of the Medical Society.
The society is supporting state legislation that would cap the non-economic, or pain and suffering,
portion of a malpractice award at $250,000. The organization says the cap would result in a 25
percent reduction in malpractice premiums.
Dr. Donald Palmisano, the president-elect of the American Medical Association, said New York had
become one of 18 "crisis" states across the country because rising malpractice rates were
threatening access to care as doctors decide to leave the profession.
"The doctors are disappearing across the country," Palmisano said.
Many doctors who spoke yesterday, either at the microphone or informally, said the price of
premiums and the threat of lawsuits were prompting them to practice medicine differently, sometimes
shunning certain procedures or patients because of the risk.
Dr. Ammiel Schwartz, a co-founder of Putnam Hospital Center in Carmel in the early 1960s, said
he had given up obstetrics and gynecological surgery because of high insurance costs.
"We are spending too much time and effort fending off lawyers with yellow pads," Schwartz said.
"It's not why we got into medicine and it doesn't bring about the best care either."
Schwartz was among the doctors, nurses and other
health care workers gathered outside Putnam Hospital Center for a 9 a.m. rally.
In Manhattan, Dr. John Olsewski, an orthopedic surgeon who practices at Sound Shore Medical
Center in New Rochelle, said he now sends some high-risk patients to other doctors.
Dr. Andrew Kleinman, a plastic surgeon in New Rochelle, said that even if there was no question
that a patient needed surgery, he gets tests to document that need in case of a legal challenge later.
"Although most of us don't like to admit that we practice self-defensive medicine, we do," said
Kleinman, who also is vice president of the Westchester County Medical Society.
Not everyone, though, was buying the doctors' arguments about a malpractice crisis.
"To say that New York is in crisis is deceptive
and the campaign seems designed to create a significant element of fear in the public," Blair
Horner, legislative director of the New York Public Interest Research Group, said from
Albany yesterday.
A recent NYPIRG report found that although malpractice rates in New York have always been
higher than many other states, there had been no significant jump in premiums and that the state
was not losing doctors, but gaining them.
Members of NYPIRG and other organizations held
their own rally across Centre Street, where participants held signs that read "Put Patients
First" and "Stand Up for Patient Safety."
Among those at that rally was Patricia Donnelly, whose 4-year-old grandson, Harry, of Katonah, died
in 1997 after surgery to insert ear tubes and remove adenoids at Hudson Valley Hospital Center
in Cortlandt. Harry's parents sued their son's doctors and the hospital, accusing them of being
"negligent, wanton and reckless." The lawsuit was settled before trial.
"If you get the bad doctors out, you won't have the malpractice problem," said Donnelly, of
Queens. "There are wonderful doctors out there. All we're saying is get the bad doctors out."
Staff writer Barbara Nackman contributed to this report. Reach Melissa Klein at
mklein@thejournalnews.com or 914-694-5063.Staff writer Barbara Nackman contributed to this report.
Reach Melissa Klein at mklein@thejournalnews.com or 914-694-5063.
--
Rebecca Hoffman
Organizing Director
Center for Justice & Democracy
80 Broad St., Suite 1710
New York, N.Y. 10004-3307
Phone: (917) 438-4608
Fax: (212) 764-4298