Pennsylvania Legislation

Other Legislative Reforms

The General Assembly has enacted other reforms since the passage of MCARE. The reforms are summarized below.

Joint and Several Liability

The Fair Share Act (Act 57 of 2002) amending joint and several liability applies to causes of action arising on or after 8/18/02 and states that the defendant must be at least 60% liable before he/she can be held responsible for payment of liability of others. The Act was found not to be germane by the Commonwealth Court in DeWeese v. Weaver, 824 A.2d 364 (Pa. Cmwlth., 2003) and in July 2005 a three-judge panel of the Commonwealth Court declared this act unconstitutional. The legislature proposed another joint and several liability bill, which passed both chambers, but was vetoed by Governor Rendell.

Mcare Abatement

The General Assembly also passed legislation that provided the funding for the 2007 abatement program, begun in 2003.

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Supreme Court Action

Medical Malpractice Data Collection

The Chief Justice has directed the Court Administrator of Pennsylvania and the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts' Policy Research Department to work closely with and assist relevant governmental agencies and others in developing an efficient means of collecting medical malpractice statistics described in the governor's plan.

The Pa Court Statistics can be accessed at www.aopc.org under the Medical Malpractice tab.

Frivolous Lawsuit Reform

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has promulgated two rules aimed at cutting down on the number of frivolous lawsuits. First, Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 1023.1 et seq. was effective July 1, 2002 and closely conforms to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11. The Rule states that the attorney must certify that the pleading is not presented to harass or increase the cost of litigation, that the claims are warranted in existing law or are a non-frivolous argument for extension of the law and that the factual allegations in the pleading have evidentiary support. This Rule allows for monetary and non-monetary sanctions.

Second, the Certificate of Merit rule (Rule of Civil Procedure 1042.1 through 1042.8) was promulgated by the Supreme Court on January 27, 2003. The rule requires a signed affidavit within 60 days of filing a lawsuit that an appropriate licensed professional has supplied a written statement that the care fell outside acceptable professional standards. A separate certificate of merit is required for each licensed professional. There have already been challenges to the Certificate of Merit rule at the common pleas level. PMSLIC is monitoring these cases for appropriate cases in which to file amicus briefs.

Venue Reform

A venue reform statute was found unconstitutional but the Supreme Court had already amended Rule of Civil Procedure 1006 in January 2003. This rule provides that a medical professional liability action may be brought against a health-care provider for a medical professional liability claim only in a county in which the cause of action arose. In an Amendatory Order issued March 5, 2003 the Supreme Court declared that this rule applies to actions filed on or after January 1, 2002.