A second Philadelphia news outlet has sounded the alarm when it comes to med mal venue shopping and the negative effects it has on access to critical healthcare services. The most recent article comes via the Philadelphia Citizen and directly ties venue shopping with limited maternity/obgyn care and maternal mortality.
The article delves into how the original med mal venue rule helped to alleviate a healthcare crisis in the Commonwealth. PCCJR Executive Director Curt Schroder was quoted extensively in the article, providing additional context of how the legislature, courts, and governor worked together to implement the original medical liability venue rule, the trial bar’s efforts to reverse it, and the dangerous implications of the Supreme Court’s decision to rescind the rule almost two years ago.
“You’ll have a reduction in available care to patients. You’ll have services that are going to become more scarce. You’ll have an overall increasing pressure on the cost of healthcare,” Schroder said.
The state Supreme Court is set to review the rule reversal in early 2025. PCCJR has been gathering data and working with the healthcare industry to provide real-world examples of how the rule change is setting the Commonwealth on a path toward another health care crisis as the impacts are being felt by doctors and hospitals. PCCJR will continue to advocate taking action on this issue before it is too late.