Post by Logan on Jun 16, 2016 22:52:19 GMT -6
As malpractice verdicts drop in Pennsylvania, officials disagree on implications
Medical malpractice jury verdicts hit a 15-year low statewide last year, a sign the medical community sees as welcome relief from escalating insurance premiums but lawyers view as evidence that injured patients are being unfairly denied an opportunity for redress.
In 2004, Pennsylvania juries issued verdicts in 449 medical malpractice cases, with 78.4 percent of those verdicts in favor of the defendant; in 2015, the numbers were 101 verdicts, with 78.2 percent favoring the hospital or medical professional. Similarly, Allegheny County saw its verdict numbers go from 49 in 2004, with 73.4 percent favoring the defense, while all 10 verdicts in 2015 favored the defendant.
What’s going on? Legal and medical officials could hardly see the matter more differently.
“I think the medical community, and insurers as well, have done a tremendous job of creating a jury bias toward these types of cases,” said Lawrence M. Kelly, president of the Western Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association and partner at the Luxenberg Garbett Kelly & George law firm in New Castle, Lawrence County.
By painting scenarios in which physicians could abandon whole towns over liability concerns, he said, they’ve persuaded jurors and legislators to construct roadblocks to filing.
Read more: www.post-gazette.com/business/healthcare-business/2016/06/17/As-malpractice-verdicts-drop-in-Pennsylvania-officials-disagree-on-implications/stories/201606170050
Medical malpractice jury verdicts hit a 15-year low statewide last year, a sign the medical community sees as welcome relief from escalating insurance premiums but lawyers view as evidence that injured patients are being unfairly denied an opportunity for redress.
In 2004, Pennsylvania juries issued verdicts in 449 medical malpractice cases, with 78.4 percent of those verdicts in favor of the defendant; in 2015, the numbers were 101 verdicts, with 78.2 percent favoring the hospital or medical professional. Similarly, Allegheny County saw its verdict numbers go from 49 in 2004, with 73.4 percent favoring the defense, while all 10 verdicts in 2015 favored the defendant.
What’s going on? Legal and medical officials could hardly see the matter more differently.
“I think the medical community, and insurers as well, have done a tremendous job of creating a jury bias toward these types of cases,” said Lawrence M. Kelly, president of the Western Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association and partner at the Luxenberg Garbett Kelly & George law firm in New Castle, Lawrence County.
By painting scenarios in which physicians could abandon whole towns over liability concerns, he said, they’ve persuaded jurors and legislators to construct roadblocks to filing.
Read more: www.post-gazette.com/business/healthcare-business/2016/06/17/As-malpractice-verdicts-drop-in-Pennsylvania-officials-disagree-on-implications/stories/201606170050