This month marks the five-year anniversary of the passage of the legislation establishing the New York State Medical Indemnity Fund (MIF)—Public Health Law article 29-D, Title 4. That statute applies only to medical malpractice actions brought on behalf of children who sustain neurologic injuries around the time of their birth. It comes into play at the very end of the litigation process of those cases, either at the time the case is settled or when a judgment is being entered after a trial and a verdict in the plaintiff’s favor. The effect of the statute is that children who sustain such injuries no longer receive monetary payments for their future health care requirements.
Instead of getting the cash awards to pay for that care, those children and their families must enroll in the MIF and must apply to the Fund administrator for approval of expenditures for their specific health care needs. That is the case regardless of whether the case resolves pursuant to a settlement or a verdict and judgment. Children whose cases are covered by this legislation do, however, continue to receive cash awards (via either settlement or judgment) for their pain and suffering and their lost earnings.
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