A law that takes advantage
of the most vulnerable.
The Bill
Senate Bill 1032
The insurance industry is pushing state legislation that would shield them from legitimate claims by people who have suffered from medical negligence. The legislation, Senate Bill 1032, would give cover to hospitals, doctors and healthcare workers even in cases where extreme negligence caused death or permanent disability, for any patient whose hospital care started with a visit to the emergency room.
Under this legislation a 12-year-old whose parents take her to the emergency room for an emergency appendectomy would have a more difficult time bringing a lawsuit if the hospital makes a mistake three days later and gives her the wrong medication, causing her serious injury.
It would limit legitimate claims even if the hospital or doctor amputated the wrong limb or the patient was harmed because the healthcare provider was intoxicated on drugs or alcohol!
This legislation has already passed in the senate and it is now in the state house where lobbyists are working around the clock to win greater protections for negligent medical providers and the insurance industry. This attack on patient protections will pass there, too, unless you take action today to stop it.
People are at their most vulnerable when they enter the emergency room and taking away their legal rights is just plain wrong.
The measure would apply to all patients – including the elderly and children, as well as pregnant women and newborns because the special interests have written the law to count labor and delivery rooms as “emergency rooms."
It is no surprise that Arizonans do not come out ahead with this legislation. It is backed by the influence, lobbyists and hard dollars of big insurance. They are counting on that to be enough. Please send a message to your legislator that you want them to put the healthcare protections of every-day Arizonans before the agenda of big insurance and their lobbyists.
