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Sen. John DeFrancisco supports one-year window for malpractice cases — but not child sex abuse cases

By Kenneth Lovett
New York Daily News
June 18, 2017

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/child-sex-abuse-victims-sympathy-n-y-senate-gop-article-1.3257570

New York Senate Deputy Majority Leader John DeFrancisco (right) defended his seemingly conflicting actions.
Photo by Hans Pennink

Kathryn Robb, a sex abuse survivor and advocate, spends a day in a meeting with legislators to support the Child Victims Act on Monday on May 16.
Photo by Jefferson Siegel

Gov. Cuomo last week said he does not expect the Child Victims Act to pass this year.
Photo by Hans Pennink

Senate Deputy Majority Leader John DeFrancisco opposes opening a one-year legal window to revive old cases for child sex abuse survivors — yet he supports the concept for other victims.

The powerful Syracuse Republican opposes a bill designed to make it easier for child sex abuse survivors to seek justice, largely because of a provision that would give victims who can no longer sue under current law one year to bring cases.

At the same time, DeFrancisco is pushing legislation that would give patients the ability to bring medical malpractice cases beginning from when they discover the error, not from when the mistake occurred, which is current law. The bill has a provision to open a one-year window to revive old cases that are currently time-barred under current law.

DeFrancisco and other Senate Republicans also have routinely supported legislation every two years to extend the statute of limitations to soldiers exposed to Agent Orange between 1961 and 1975 — cases that would have otherwise been time-barred since 1985.

DeFrancisco recently told the News that the issues are "totally unrelated" and that he has been "totally consistent" with his actions.

"There's a big difference between a forever statute of limitation and one that provides a limited increase in the time when someone had no knowledge whatsoever of the negligence," he said.

But Kathryn Robb, a child sex abuse survivor and advocate, called it a "slap in the face to survivors" and "brazenly hypocritical."

"His inconsistencies are alarming to me," Robb said. "It's clear he's talking out of both sides of his whatever."

With just three scheduled days left in the state legislative session, Gov. Cuomo last week said he does not expect the Child Victims Act to pass this year.

His comments angered survivors since they came just two days after he introduced a Child Victims Act of his own that was identical to a bill passed earlier this month by the Assembly.

The Cuomo and Assembly bills would allow survivors to bring civil cases up until their 50th birthdays, and felony criminal cases until their 28th birthdays. Currently, victims have until their 23rd birthdays to bring such cases.

The bills also include a one-year window to revive old cases and treats public and private institutions identically. Currently, those abused in a public setting, such as a school, have 90 days from the incident to formally file an intent to sue.

The Senate GOP has shown no inclination thus far to take up the measure, which is strongly opposed because of the one-year lookback by such groups as the Catholic Church, Boy Scouts and other religious organizations.

Meanwhile, DeFrancisco said he is still pushing his medical malpractice bill known as Lavern's Law.

The bill, which now has 40 sponsors in the Senate — eight more than is needed-has died in the Senate the past two years. The Assembly passed the measure two years ago, but hasn't since as it waits to see what the Senate does.

A Senate GOP source said the Republicans have discussed the issue, but no decision has been made whether to bring it up before Wednesday's end of the session.

The bill is named after Lavern Wilkinson, a 41-year-old Brooklyn mom who died in 2013 of a curable form of lung cancer after doctors at Kings County Hospital misdiagnosed her. By the time she sued, the window to file had expired. She left behind a 15-year-old autistic and developmentally disabled child who needs round-the-clock care.

On Sunday, a group of abuse survivors taped their mouths with red duct tape and gathered in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan in support of the Child Victims Act.

"It has been very hard for me to enter the church just knowing that my church is not doing anything to help prevent this for children like myself," said Ana Wagner, 37, an abuse survivor and member of the Stop Abuse Campaign.

"The demonstration today was basically to ask my church to please put aside the politics and put our children first," she added.




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