STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4225 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN SENATE February 3, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. PARKER -- read twice and ordered printed, 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 time to commence certain malpractice actions The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 214-a of the civil practice law and rules, as 2 amended by chapter 1 of the laws of 2018, is amended to read as follows: 3 § 214-a. Action for medical, dental or podiatric malpractice to be 4 commenced within two years and six months; exceptions. (a) An action for 5 medical, dental or podiatric malpractice must be commenced within two 6 years and six months of the act, omission or failure complained of or 7 last treatment where there is continuous treatment for the same illness, 8 injury or condition which gave rise to the said act, omission or fail- 9 ure[; provided, however, that: (a) where]. 10 (b) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of this section, an action for 11 medical, dental or podiatric malpractice need not be commenced within 12 two years and six months of the act, omission or failure complained of 13 or last treatment where there is continuous treatment for the same 14 illness, injury or condition which gave rise to the said act, omission 15 or failure, if the defendant is a hospital as defined in subdivision ten 16 of section twenty-eight hundred one of the public health law, and has 17 failed to file an incident report as required by section twenty-eight 18 hundred five-l of such law in connection with the incident that is the 19 subject of the malpractice action. In such case, the action may be 20 commenced within one year of the date of the required filing. 21 (2) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of this section, an action for 22 medical, dental or podiatric malpractice need not be commenced within 23 two years and six months of the act, omission or failure complained of 24 or last treatment where there is continuous treatment for the same 25 illness, injury or condition which gave rise to the said act, omission EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD07873-01-5
S. 4225 2 1 or failure, where such action is against a hospital as defined in subdi- 2 vision ten of section twenty-eight hundred one of the public health law, 3 regardless of whether such action is otherwise barred by subdivision (a) 4 of this section against any individual licensed under title eight of the 5 education law, where either such individual or such hospital has failed 6 to file an incident report as required by section twenty-eight hundred 7 five-l of the public health law in connection with the incident that is 8 the subject of the malpractice action. In such case, the action may be 9 commenced within one year of the date of the required filing. 10 (c) Where the action is based upon the discovery of a foreign object 11 in the body of the patient, the action may be commenced within one year 12 of the date of such discovery or of the date of discovery of facts which 13 would reasonably lead to such discovery, whichever is earlier; and 14 [(b)] (d) where the action is based upon the alleged negligent failure 15 to diagnose cancer or a malignant tumor, whether by act or omission, the 16 action may be commenced within two years and six months of the later of 17 either (i) when the person knows or reasonably should have known of such 18 alleged negligent act or omission and knows or reasonably should have 19 known that such alleged negligent act or omission has caused injury, 20 provided, that such action shall be commenced no later than seven years 21 from such alleged negligent act or omission, or (ii) the date of the 22 last treatment where there is continuous treatment for such injury, 23 illness or condition. For the purpose of this section the term "contin- 24 uous treatment" shall not include examinations undertaken at the request 25 of the patient for the sole purpose of ascertaining the state of the 26 patient's condition. For the purpose of this section the term "foreign 27 object" shall not include a chemical compound, fixation device or pros- 28 thetic aid or device. 29 § 2. Subdivisions 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of section 2805-l of the public 30 health law are renumbered subdivisions 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 and a new subdi- 31 vision 3 is added to read as follows: 32 3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, copies of any reports 33 submitted to the department under this section shall also simultaneously 34 be submitted to: 35 (a) the patient or patients who are affected in such a manner as to 36 trigger the reporting requirements as set forth in paragraphs (a) 37 through (g) of subdivision two of this section; 38 (b) in the event the patient is deceased or incapacitated, such 39 reports shall be submitted with the patient's or estate's legal repre- 40 sentative; and 41 (c) the person, family or otherwise, who has been identified in the 42 hospital's records as the person designated by the patient for notifica- 43 tion or consultation in the event of the patient's incapacity or death. 44 § 3. The public health law is amended by adding two new sections 2832 45 and 2833 to read as follows: 46 § 2832. Liability of hospitals for infections; private right of 47 action. Any person, who in the course of a treatment, procedure or 48 delivery of health care service, by any hospital as defined in subdivi- 49 sion ten of section twenty-eight hundred one of this article, is 50 subjected to a hospital acquired infection as defined by paragraph (a) 51 of subdivision one of section twenty-eight hundred nineteen of this 52 article, may bring a cause of action for any injuries suffered as a 53 result of such infection, pursuant to the statute of limitations set 54 forth in section two hundred fourteen-a of the civil practice law and 55 rules.
S. 4225 3 1 § 2833. Strict liability for medication errors; private right of 2 action. Every hospital, as defined in subdivision ten of section twen- 3 ty-eight hundred one of this article, is strictly liable for any inju- 4 ries suffered to any patient as a result of an error in providing medi- 5 cation to said patient in the course of a treatment, procedure or 6 delivery of health care service. 7 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.