Long before COVID-19 hit, we knew that the return to venue shopping in medical liability cases would severely impact access to health care. Facing the fallout of COVID-19, a change in the venue rule could push hospitals, nursing homes, and health care professionals over the edge.
PCCJR recently penned a guest column, Returning to the Days of Venue Shopping Would Hurt Pennsylvanians,which appeared in the April edition of Pennsylvania Physician. Venue shopping was a significant factor causing the medical liability crisis in the early 2000s. The Pew Report found that the liability crisis of the early 2000s was due in large part to an increase in the cost of claims. More cases filed in places like Philadelphia will only cause the cost of claims to rise again, putting pressure on the health care system and threatening the availability of high-risk services, like maternity care.
With the complicating factor of coming lawsuits related to COVID-19, we shudder to think what could happen if the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decides they can file those lawsuits in the Judicial Hellhole known as Philadelphia no matter where the harm occurred!