Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D-South Queens) announced that legislation she helped pass, known as Lavern’s Law, will be signed into law by the governor. This new law will give patients whose cancer was misdiagnosed or not detected more time to pursue just compensation in a court of law (A.9633-A).

“Misdiagnosing or failing to diagnose cancer isn’t simply a mistake, it’s a matter of life and death,” Pheffer Amato said. “New Yorkers should be able to trust that their doctors and hospitals are correctly identifying the cause of their pain or illness, and if something is missed, they should be able to seek recourse. Lavern’s Law will go a long way in ensuring New York’s malpractice statutes are fairer to those who have been harmed.”

Previously, victims had to file a legal claim within 30 months of the date of alleged malpractice or misdiagnosis for private entities, within 24 months for state providers and within 15 months for local government providers – even if patients didn’t discover the mistake until years later. It precluded victims of medical negligence from going to court even if they had no basis to know that the negligence had been committed.

Lavern’s Law fixes this for cases involving a failure to diagnose cancer or a malignant tumor and gives patients and their families 2 1/2 years to file malpractice claims from the time the victim discovers the failure to diagnose – rather than at the time of the negligent act – but within seven years of the alleged malpractice. The law also provides a six-month window to file an action or claim for people where the statute of limitations expired within the last 10 months. Before now, New York had been one of only six states that started the clock at the moment of misdiagnosis rather than discovery.1

The law is named in memory of Lavern Wilkinson, a mother who died in 2013 of a treatable form of lung cancer. The hospital she attended three years earlier failed to notify her of a suspicious mass in her chest X-ray. By the time she was diagnosed with cancer, it had spread throughout her body and the deadline to seek justice in court had already passed.

Ms. Wilkinson is survived by her daughter, Micalia Squires, who has a severe form of autism and requires extensive care. The settlement agreed upon by the hospital and the city is only a fraction of what the family could have been awarded from a medical malpractice suit – vital funds that would have greatly helped the family care for Micalia.

“It’s unfortunately too late for Ms. Wilkinson’s family to get the justice they more than deserve, but I hope they find solace in knowing that because of their advocacy, more families like theirs will be able to get their day in court,” Pheffer Amato said.

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