SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

Source: assembly.state.ny.us

An amendment that would have lifted the state’s stringent statute of limitations on suing medical practitioners for malpractice failed to come to a vote before this year’s state legislative session ended. According to a New York Daily News report, the proposed amendment, sponsored by Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein, failed because it didn’t have the support of State Senate leader Dean Skelos.

The amendment was referred to as Lavern’s Law, named after Brooklyn mother Lavern Wilkinson who died after doctors at Kings County Hospital failed to tell her she had a treatable lung nodule that they had detected. She and her family were unable to sue for medical malpractice due to the state’s strict statute of limitations laws, which start counting days from when the negligence actually occurred, not when it was discovered.

While the bill had gained traction in the Assembly, Weinstein held it back from a vote. Weinstein claims that the amendment would never have a chance in the Senate due to intense lobbying from hospital and doctors groups who argued that malpractice insurance rates would drastically increase.

Weinstein, who has spent years trying to get this law passed, explained her withdrawal of the amendment to the Daily News.

“It seemed pretty obvious that the Senate wasn’t advancing the bill, and it was going to be a heated debate in our house with it looking like it had a chance to become law this year,” Weinstein said.

Advocates for the bill, including Wilkinson’s attorney, Judith Donnell, were incensed over the failure of the bill to gain traction in the state legislature.

“It’s a shame. Neither the Senate or the Assembly had the backbone to let it come to a vote. Hopefully it will pass in the new year. It’s not something that should just be buried,” Donnell said.

Weinstein also expressed hope that the proposed amendment will come to a vote next year.

“I am certainly capable of handling a contentious debate, but you want to save it for when there is a chance of becoming law,” Weinstein told the Daily News. “We got further than we ever have before, so I am hopeful for next year.”

According to the Daily News, Albany insiders blamed the failure of the bill on there being a lack of time to debate the measure. Skelos offered no comment.

Source: mikey k via flickr

The recent murder in Midwood took another strange turn when it was revealed that a 911 dispatcher badly bungled a tip delivered by the alleged murderer’s psychiatrist. The New York Post is reporting that not only did the dispatcher pass along bad information to the NYPD but was caught laughing on tape during her report.

The case, which centers around 62-year-old Ronald Friedfertig, officially began when neighbors reported a foul stench coming from Friedfertig’s apartment located at 1315 Avenue N. On June 4, police found the decomposing body of Yevonnee Gefner, Friedfertig’s girlfriend, with a note attached claiming “I killed my wife she’s putting spells on me.” Friedfertig was subsequently found at Kings County Hosiptal suffering from a broken neck and arm after a failed suicide attempt where he leaped in front of an oncoming Q train at the Avenue M station.

Gefner’s body could have been discovered four days earlier on May 30 when Friedfertig’s psychiatrist, Noam Koenigsberg, called 911. Koenigsberg reported that Friedfertig, who suffers from mental illness, told his brother that he dreamed that he stabbed his girlfriend, but wasn’t sure if it really happened or not. The psychiatrist also noted that Gefner hadn’t been heard from in some time.

After taking the report, the initial dispatcher, who accurately recorded and logged all the information, passed the report on to a different dispatcher. This second dispatcher was caught on tape laughing and failed to tell the NYPD that the call came from Friedfertig’s psychiatrist and that nobody had been able to contact Gefner. As a result officers simply knocked on the house and left when no one answered.

The NYPD is now investigating the matter internally.

The police have arrested the boyfriend of slain Midwood woman Yevonnee Gefner, whose decomposing body was found with a bizarre confession note that read, “I killed my wife she’s putting spells on me.” The New York Daily News is reporting that the man, identified as 62-year-old Ronald Friedfertig, beat and stabbed his wife to death in their apartment located at 1315 Avenue N.

According to a CBS NY report, despite the note that identified Gefner as Friedfertig’s wife, the couple was not married. After Friedfertig allegedly killed Gefner, he attempted to kill himself by jumping in front of a Q-train as it entered the Avenue M station. He suffered a broken neck and arm and was subsequently being treated at the Kings County Hospital.

The murder has shaken the otherwise quiet community.

“It’s a very Orthodox Jewish community, very tight-knit and everybody keeps an eye on one another,” neighbor Michael Wright said to CBS. “It’s kind of hard to have a murder right here.”

Friedfertig has been charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

Source: mikey k via flickr

The body of a decomposing woman was found in a Midwood home last night displaying a confessional note listing a bizarre motive. NBC NY is reporting that the note said, “I killed my wife she’s putting spells on me.”

The victim was identified as 57-year-old Yevonne Gefner. Her body was found inside her Avenue N home after neighbors called 911 complaining about a foul odor. According to an ABC report, police found Gefner’s body riddled with multiple stab wounds in the back, noting that when discovered, she had been dead for a week.

In perhaps accounting for the bizarre note which complained of witchcraft as a motive for the slaying, Gefner’s husband was subsequently found at Kings County Hospital’s psychiatric ward, where he had a broken neck and arm.

Yeshiva World News is reporting that the suspect may be the person who jumped in front of a Q train two weeks ago at Avenue J. That person was taken to Kings County Hospital at the time, the site notes.

Police were told by neighbors that the couple had been together for about two years.