Chester County Medicine Winter 2019 - 6
www.CHESTERCMS.org
President's
Message
BY MIAN A. JAN, MD, FACC, FSCAI
PRESIDENT OF CHESTER COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY
MALPRACTICE
CRISIS REDUX
I
remember 2002 like it was yesterday when the biggest crisis facing physicians was
getting and affording malpractice insurance. The rising cost of malpractice in high risk
specialties made it so that many doctors could not get insurance and were leaving the
state to go to more reasonable parts of the country. Even Lloyds of London was reluctant
to insure Pennsylvania's physicians.
DR. MIAN ARSHAD JAN
In response to that crisis, which was affecting the Healthcare in Pennsylvania, ACT 13
was passed by the Pennsylvania legislature. ACT 13 lead to several reforms, most notably
being the creation of the MCARE Fund. This spread the cost of high-risk coverage among
a pool of physicians. Other parts of ACT 13 included strengthening the Certificate of
Merit required for lawyers seeking to file malpractice suits against physicians, as well
as penalties for attorneys who were found to be filing in frivolous cases. Lastly, the bill
mandated the creation of patient safety protocols and for an increase in event reporting.
In addition, ACT 127, initially passed in 2002, limited the filing of the venue against
a physician to be in the jurisdiction where the action occurred. This was subsequently
invalidated by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The court issued a procedural rule
imposing restrictions on "venue shopping" which remains in place today. By dealing with
the situation in this manner the Supreme Court kept the venue issue under the realm of
"process law" as opposed to "substantive law" which would require legislation to change.
Currently, the Standing Rules Committee, which advises the state Supreme Court,
is now proposing a reversion of the venue regulation to their previous iteration on the
grounds that there is no longer a malpractice crisis in Pennsylvania. True, the number of
lawsuits and verdicts has become more rational and reasonable, however, Pennsylvania
is still one of the highest as far as malpractice cost is concerned and returning to the
6 CHESTER COUNT Y Medicine | WINTER 2019
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Chester County Medicine Winter 2019
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