The number of annual medical malpractice case filings in Pennsylvania is leveling off after a six-year decline resulting from two legislative changes the Pennsylvania Supreme Court made in 2003.
Last year, 1,528 medical liability lawsuits were filed, 44.1% fewer than the average filed from 2000 to 2002, the “base” years before the legislative changes in 2003, according to an annual report by the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC).
Between 2003 and 2008, the number of medical malpractice suits declined 37.3% from the base years to 41.4%, the report found. The last three years show a leveling off of the decline: a 43.9% decline in 2009; a 45.4% decline in 2010; and the 44.1% decline last year.
The two Pennsylvania Supreme Court changes to medical malpractice filing rules are part of tort reform, or efforts to limit monetary payments awarded to plaintiffs for an injury caused by an individual or business.
The first change required lawyers to obtain from a medical professional a certificate of merit that establishes that the medical procedures in a case fall outside acceptable professional standards.
The second change required medical malpractice actions to be brought only in the county where the cause of action takes place—a move aimed at eliminating “venue shopping,” the AOPC said.
“What we’re seeing is essentially a leveling off in what had been a growing decline in numbers that is not surprising,” Chief Justice of Pennsylvania Ronald D. Castille said in a statement. “Although the numbers are likely to show slight changes in the years ahead, the pattern suggests a solid footing for the systematic tracking and rule changes initiated and instituted a decade ago by the Supreme Court to Medical associations and lawyers debate whether limits should be placed on the public’s ability to sue doctors, hospitals and others for medical malpractice.
Medical groups say the litigious environment in Pennsylvania created a scenario where fewer physicians want to practice medicine because there is a higher risk of juries awarding multi-million dollar medical malpractice verdicts against them, according to The Scranton Times-Tribune.
More than 70% of the 117 medical malpractice verdicts last year were in favor of the defendants, usually medical professionals or hospitals, according to the AOPC.
For the cases with rulings for the plaintiffs, only four were for more than $10 million and nine verdicts led to verdicts between $1 million and $10 million, the AOPC said.
Pa. medical malpractice filings level off after six-year decline via IFAwebnews .
