Lavern Wilkinson was a single mom with a severely handicapped daughter who died in March 2013 from a curable form of lung cancer. She had gone to the Emergency room at Kings County Hospital in 2010 with a terrible cough. The staff there performed an x-ray which showed a suspicious mass but she was never notified of this and was sent home. When she returned back to the hospital 2 years later it was discovered that the cancer had spread and her condition was terminal. When she tried to sue the hospital to ensure financial security for her disabled child she was advised that the current statute of limitations barred her from seeking damages against the hospital. Tragically Lavern died in March 2013.
Unfortunately Lavern is not alone. Lissy McMahon has stage 4 uterine cancer. In 2012, she was told that a uterine fibroid was benign. In 2014, after the statute of limitations expired, she found out her initial doctors were negligent and she, in fact, had stage 4 uterine cancer. Watch her explain in her own words what this means for her and her son Jack.
Please post on social media and/or Tweet this link out using #lavernslaw. Share this video, so that more people can hear Lissy’s story in her own words.
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Lissy’s story has been featured in Newsday, the New York Daily News and on Fox 5 News. Our elected officials are also hearing the voices of people like Lavern Wilkinson, Jennifer Estrella and June Dreifuss in the press.
Lavern’s Law – A.285A (Weinstein)/S.6596 (DeFrancisco) – would allow these families to seek justice.
The Assembly passed the bill last year and there are 38 co-sponsors in the 63 member State Senate. We are hopeful that since the majority of the Senate supports the bill – which the Governor supports as well – it will be brought to a vote.
Please reach out to your Senator and Assemblymember and urge them to support bringing the bill to a vote.
Prior results do not guarantee outcomes.
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