By Long Island Attorney Paul A. Lauto, Esq.

NYS is on the verge of passing unprecedented legislation, that would give state officials the power to supersede federal vaccine guidance from the Advisory Committee On Immunization Practices (ACIP).  The ACIP is a panel comprised of health and vaccine experts that recommend and shape the nationwide vaccine schedule.  States historically follow the ACIP science based guidance because it ensures consistency, safety and access.  If NYS embraces radical overreach by usurping this power under the guise of "protecting New Yorkers," the ramifications will have far reaching effects that the proposed legislation does not provide for in any meaningful way.

Federal funding for programs such as Medicaid and the Vaccines For Children Program depends on ACIP recommendations.  If NYS passes legislation that disregards ACIP recommendations and replaces them with its own, a dangerous consequence may well be the loss of such federal funding to the state.  Federal funding in NYS covers the cost of vaccinations for almost half of its children.  Without federal funding, this huge unbudgeted expense would fall completely on the state and its taxpaying citizens.

Another consequence that is not sufficiently protected against in the proposed legislation, is the likely loss of vaccine provider liability protection provided by the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP).  If NYS detaches itself from the ACIP, lawmakers are potentially opening the door to increased legal exposure for providers.  Doctors and Pharmacists who administer vaccines would be subjected to increased lawsuits and higher malpractice insurance premiums.   As a result, such providers would likely hesitate to even offer vaccinations.  Notwithstanding, this legislation would imprudently increase that risk without a robust safety net provision.

In addition, all of this will provide fertile ground for mixed messaging and confusion.  NYS would effectively be telling its people and the nation, that it will no longer follow federal vaccine guidance and that NYS will instead just make up its own rules when it disagrees with Washington.  Coverage and liability will differ from other states, creating a recipe for confusion and loss of public trust.

New York's proposed legislation isn't a visionary leap forward, but rather a reckless reshaping of vaccine policy that abandons national standards, risks federal funding, threatens legal protections for clinicians and invites chaos into a system that should be grounded in science and not politics.  By ignoring these consequences, NYS lawmakers risk trading real public health safeguards for political posturing with New Yorkers footing the bill. 

Long Island Lawyer
Paul A. Lauto, Esq.
​www.liattorney.com

By Long Island Attorney Paul A. Lauto, Esq.

​St. John's University has denied students the opportunity to form a chapter of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) on its Queens campus for the third time since 2018.  What may have initially appeared to be a routine administrative decision has now, after repeated rejections, generated questions about hypocrisy, consistency and identity at the Catholic institution.

St. John’s defines itself as a Catholic and Vincentian university grounded in faith, human dignity and open intellectual inquiry.  It promotes inclusion and dialogue as core values of its campus culture.  In fact, the university formally recognizes and supports a wide range of student organizations, including Muslim student associations and Arab cultural groups.  These organizations are free to host events, reserve campus space and participate fully in student life. Their presence is often highlighted as evidence of the university’s commitment to diversity.

Notwithstanding, the Christian Right aligned conservative organization TPUSA has now been denied recognition three separate times at the Catholic university.  That pattern raises reasonable concerns about whether standards are being applied evenly.  If there are neutral and policy based reasons for the denials, the university owes its students a clear and transparent explanation.  In the absence of such clarity, the repeated rejection of TPUSA appears less like a procedural matter and more like bias ideological gatekeeping.  When a Catholic institution appears more comfortable recognizing non-Christian faith based groups than a Christian Right aligned organization, it creates animosity, derision and confusion about what its religious identity truly means in practice.

Inclusion cannot mean welcoming every perspective except one that in some circles may be politically unpopular.  If St. John’s believes in dialogue and intellectual diversity, it should trust students to engage with differing viewpoints rather than prevent them from organizing.  After three denials, students are left wondering whether or not inclusion at a Catholic university applies to all faith based perspectives, or only to some.

Long Island Lawyer
Paul A. Lauto, Esq.
​www.liattorney.com

By Paul A. Lauto, Esq.

​In a landmark medical malpractice case, a New York jury awarded a $2 million verdict in favor of a detransitioner, marking the first successful medical malpractice claim against physicians for providing “gender-affirming” care.  The jury found that a psychologist and a surgeon were liable for urging and performing a double mastectomy on a 16-year-old girl.

The verdict concluded that the doctors departed from accepted medical standards of care in multiple respects.  Specifically, the jury found that they failed to complete necessary steps in the assessment process, did not adequately evaluate underlying mental health conditions and engaged in negligent communication between the psychologist and the surgeon prior to the surgery.

This case adds significant legal scrutiny to the practice of performing irreversible and body-altering procedures on minors and reinforces the argument that children cannot meaningfully provide informed consent for such interventions.  Many observers believe this verdict may open the floodgates to further litigation in the “gender-affirming” care arena, particularly as it relates to medical treatment of minor children.

Long Island Lawyer
Paul A. Lauto, Esq.
​www.liattorney.com