Last week, PCCJR Executive Director Curt Schroder was one of the featured speakers at a press conference calling for medical liability reform. The event, which was held in the Pennsylvania Capitol Rotunda, was organized by the Pennsylvania Orthopaedic Society.
During his remarks, Schroder noted the sharp increase in medical liability cases filed in the Philadelphia Court system following the Supreme Court’s rescission of the medical liability venue rule. In 2023, there were 544 cases filed in Philadelphia – nearly double the number (275) filed in 2022 prior to the rule reversal. A PCCJR review found that roughly 42 percent of the cases filed in Philadelphia in 2023 had a cause of action arising from outside of the court’s jurisdiction and could not have been filed there but for the rescission of the medical liability venue rule. Coincidently, last year also saw an astounding $278,281,342 in medical liability verdicts awarded in Philadelphia, an all time record! Recent data shows that the number of cases filed in 2024 is trending in the same direction as the previous year.