Medical lawsuits plummet in Philadelphia

Pennsylvania - New Jersey - New York - Nationwide

By Josh Goldstein
Inquirer Staff Writer
August 31, 2003

Since Harrisburg issued new legal rules aimed at limiting the number of medical-malpractice lawsuits filed in Philadelphia, new filings have dropped by nearly two-thirds in the city.
From January through July, 326 malpractice suits were initiated in the city's Court of Common Pleas compared with 913 such suits begun in those seven months last year.

The 326 suits filed in Philadelphia from January through July are the fewest for that period since 1990, an Inquirer analysis of court records shows.

The new legal rules, part of state changes to alleviate Pennsylvania doctors' rocketing malpractice-insurance rates, were designed to move cases away from Philadelphia juries, who regularly award most of Pennsylvania's million-dollar verdicts.

And so far this year, nearly 300 existing cases have been transferred out of Philadelphia because of the "venue" requirement that they be tried in the county where the alleged negligence occurred.

The decrease in the city - which historically accounts for roughly half the money paid on malpractice claims statewide - is expected to reduce the overall cost of malpractice here.

"The average jury verdict in Philadelphia is more than twice the size of the average jury verdict in the rest of the state, so this should produce significant savings," said Andrew Wigglesworth, president of the Delaware Valley Healthcare Council, which represents area hospitals.

"Obviously this is a significant step forward and a positive change, particularly for organizations and physicians who operate outside the city," he said.

But insurance experts say that because malpractice suits take so long to resolve it might be three or more years before premiums for doctors and hospitals are reduced.

"You don't want to make projections based on a few months of data, that is when insurers get into trouble," said Sam Marshall, president of the Pennsylvania Insurance Federation, an industry group. "As accurate data is collected, we hope that will produce some saving for providers who no longer get dragged into Philadelphia."

Since 2000, malpractice insurance rates have increased sharply in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and across the nation.

The increases and the lack of commercial insurance - particularly for specialists, such as obstetricians and neurosurgeons - has spawned protests by doctors in both states who say the high premiums are driving them out of business and limiting patients' access to care.

Those protests helped spur the governor, legislators, and the state Supreme Court to address the problem over the last two years.

"We are seeing fewer cases filed here in Philadelphia because of the new venue rules," said William J. Manfredi, supervising judge of the civil trial division of Common Pleas Court.

For example, in February - the month after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued new rules requiring that malpractice plaintiffs have a doctor sign off on the merits of their claims and that such suits be filed in the county where the alleged negligence occurred - 34 malpractice suits were initiated in Philadelphia.

That was a 13-year low.

The change is being felt by the lawyers who specialize in these cases.

"I see a decrease in the number of cases we are getting," said Richard E. Geschke, a Philadelphia malpractice defense lawyer. "It is significant when you see cases come in on almost a daily basis and that stops."

For Gov. Rendell and Harrisburg lawmakers, the decrease in litigation shows that laws enacted to address the rising cost of malpractice insurance in the last two years and new court rules are producing results.

"This is proof that some of the actions that the legislature, Gov. Schweiker, and the Supreme Court have taken are working and will continue to work," Rendell said.

The state Supreme Court's ruling on where malpractice cases can be filed has also led to the transfer of 281 existing suits from Philadelphia to suburban courts this year.

It is unclear, however, whether the decline in city malpractice filings has been counterbalanced with commensurate increases in suburban courts.

"I know that we have received some," said Kenneth A. Clouse, president judge of Delaware County Court.

"What I don't know," Clouse added, "is if you take all the suburban counties and add the new cases that came from Philadelphia, if it offsets the decline in the city, or if some of those cases have just not been brought because of the tendency of the suburbs to have more defense verdicts and smaller awards."

Lawyers who represent injured patients say the rule changes should not hurt people with legitimate claims.

"So long as the plaintiff's lawyer acts responsibly and takes a judicious approach to the selection of cases which are meritorious, then a suburban jury will award fair and appropriate damages," said Thomas R. Kline, a Philadelphia plaintiffs lawyer, who has won two multimillion-dollar jury verdicts in suburban courts this year.

And plaintiff's lawyer Gerald A. McHugh Jr. said the requirement that an expert certify a claim weeded out bad claims "because it forces less experienced lawyers to come to grips with the medical issues in their case before filing."

But new data from the Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error Fund (MCARE Fund), the state agency that provides doctors and hospitals a second tier of malpractice coverage, suggests payouts continue to rise.

In the first 11 months of the fund's 2003 fiscal year, the agency accumulated $322.7 million due on malpractice claims - $10.6 million more than it owed after same period in 2002.

"Now we need to get to the point where it has an impact on [premium] rates," Rendell said.
In the meantime, the governor is seeking legislation to provide $600 million over the next three years to reduce the annual MCARE fund surcharge for doctors.

"The thing that frustrates me most is when people say we haven't done anything," Rendell said.

Still, the governor added, "there is no doubt in my mind that there will be some action on MCARE abatement and further tort reforms this fall."