Jim Gerlach, President & CEO of the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance (GRCA) issued the following statement regarding the PA Supreme Court’s decision to roll back civil procedure rules for medical liability lawsuits.
“Businesses function best with certainty. It is what drives decisions like whether to invest time and capital into Pennsylvania, adding jobs, economic activity, and tax base. Thursday’s actions by the PA Supreme Court to overturn the common-sense civil procedure rules for medical liability cases to be brought in the county in which the action occurs injects unnecessary uncertainty into PA’s still recovering health care industry.
Prior to the venue rules, medical malpractice cases were wreaking havoc on PA’s physicians and hospitals. The costs of overly exorbitant malpractice awards were leading medical professionals, specifically specialists, to halt offering some procedures or to leave the state altogether. This also drove insurance premiums through the roof, directly harming every single PA citizen.
With this rule change, the PA Supreme Court has endorsed forum-shopping where claimants will bring claims in the counties that they can get the highest payout which, in turn, will either drive medical insurance costs way up or drive health care professionals out of the state. The change of the medical liability venue rule is a slippery slope that could lead to similar changes in venue for business liability cases. The members of the Greater Reading Chamber Alliance stand with our area health care providers in calling for the legislature and Governor Wolf to enact legislation that will reestablish common-sense venue rules for these types of civil cases.”