January 2023:

The MLO Minute: “Medical Malpractice: Major Changes on January 1st, 2023” — 

By, Dennis McAndrews, Esq., Founder, and Heather Hulse, J.D., M.S., M.A. — 

Earlier this year, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a major order which dramatically modified the “special venue rule” that has been applied to physicians and hospitals in medical malpractice cases for the past 20 years. During the past two decades, an unprecedented Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure provided that injured patients could only file lawsuits against healthcare providers in the county where the medical treatment occurred. Prior to the initiation of that unique rule 20 years ago, medical malpractice plaintiffs could file an action wherever the medical provider conducted substantial business or had substantial contacts, which remains the applicable rule for all other types of negligence cases. The new rule is set to go into effect on January 1, 2023, and will allow plaintiffs in medical malpractice cases to sue healthcare providers in any county where they regularly conduct business or have significant contacts. The rationale for the rule change is that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court viewed medical malpractice cases as receiving a form of special treatment that was unavailable to any other injured person. The order of the Court directs that the impact of this rule is to be examined after two years of its operation.

Not surprisingly, the rule change is controversial and very different perspectives are being offered. Attorneys who represent individuals in medical malpractice cases view the new rule as evening the playing field and treating these types of cases in the same manner as all other negligence cases in Pennsylvania. Conversely, medical providers assert that the new rule will cause malpractice insurance premiums to rise and that some specialists will not be able to obtain affordable coverage, with physicians leaving the state. These arguments were made 20 years ago when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court approved the restrictive venue rule, but many observers believe that the impact of that rule change has not always borne out all of these concerns.

Many plaintiff’s attorneys who practice in the field of medical malpractice are holding back on filing these cases until the venue rule changes on January 1, which will allow these matters to be filed in counties which are viewed as issuing larger verdicts with more sympathetic jury pools.

In our firm, we develop hundreds of special needs trusts in a wide variety of situations and draft a great many such trusts in medical malpractice cases to preserve public benefits for an individual with disabilities. This work provides us in the unique position of observing the work of the best medical malpractice attorneys for specific types of medical negligence cases. We also have the good fortune in our firm of having attorneys with decades of major trial experience and estate planning practice, which allows us to benefit individuals who require these skills, including individuals who believe they have been the victim of medical negligence or malpractice. Please do not hesitate to reach out at any time to the authors to discuss any of these matters. We look forward to assisting you and guiding you in the right direction!