Governor Paterson has signed the No Fault Intoxicated Driver Bill into law (S.7845, Breslin/ A.11116, Dinowitz). This legislation has been supported by the NYSAM, NYSAFP and MSSSNY. NYSAM weighed in with the Governor via a letter urging his approval of the bill only last week. In early June the Assembly, Senate, and OASAS differed on what they wanted. NYSAM president Dr. Norman Wetterau and our executive, John Coppola, spent a half day in early June carrying messages between the parties in what became a successful effort to get everyone on board with the same bill.
The new law takes effect in 180 days and requires No Fault insurance carriers to compensate health care providers for emergency care provided to patients regardless of whether they were injured as a result of driving while intoxicated.
This bill makes it clear that accident victims participating in needle exchange programs, who are arrested because of residual drugs in a syringe that is yet to be returned to the needle exchange program, cannot be charged. This had been an oversight in the initial bill, even though it made no sense. Unfortunately in some areas people were being arrested.
HIV Bill Signed by NYS Governor
The Governor has finally signed a bill making it easier to obtain HIV tests and requiring that they be offered to patients. We will follow up with more details later.
