What Donohue, Dougherty, and Wecht did to Pennsylvania health care
In the late 1990s, my husband and I — both young in our respective medical practices — moved to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, only to find that the medical field was under attack.
The aggressive marauders?
Trial lawyers.
Runaway medical malpractice judgments handed down in certain counties, notably Philadelphia, against physicians and their insurers, were causing malpractice insurance rates to soar.
That cost of doing business was causing an exodus from the field of medicine. Physicians across the state were packing up and leaving. In a single year, Delaware County lost 44 physicians. It was a bleak time.
In 2003, a rule was adopted to restrict the filing of suits for medical malpractice to the county where the malpractice was alleged to have occurred.
It worked. Lawsuits for medical malpractice decreased. Judgments at sticker-shock levels declined. The crisis eased. The exodus of physicians from our state abated.
But in 2022, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court — including Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht — lifted that rule. Trial lawyers were again able to file suits outside of the counties where the alleged injuries occurred.
Such suits have now nearly doubled.
Marauding trial lawyers were back to practicing what we call “venue shopping.”
Huge awards were back again, especially in Philadelphia County.
Think about the human impacts in Pennsylvania.
If a patient files suit against a physician, whatever the case’s merit, and that case is tried several counties away in front of juries known for imposing outlandish awards, here is what happens: The physician travels, taking time away from the practice of medicine, while living in dread of a heavy jury award. Sometimes it’s just too much to bear, as we know from other notorious developments seen too often with medical malpractice cases.
Do most patients in Pennsylvania want to see the physicians who care for them trying to function under that kind of stress?
Do physicians considering a career in our commonwealth want to practice in a setting known for its sometimes inflated rewards for litigiousness?
Given the documented shortage of physicians, is this a good thing for Pennsylvania?
People hoping to have children in Pennsylvania should take note.
In 2023, a Pennsylvania jury awarded $183 million in an obstetrical case. Those training in obstetrics, a popular target for malpractice suits, are noticing this when they decide where to practice.
Between 2010 and 2022, even before the renewed permission to shop for a venue in which to try a case, nearly half of hospitals in Pennsylvania’s rural counties lost their obstetrical practices.
This is a part of Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty, and David Wecht’s record I encourage voters to consider as the three face retention elections on Tuesday.
State Senator Steve Santasiero (D-Doylestown), himself an attorney and currently the head of the Bucks County Democratic Committee, pledged his allegiance to the marauding trial lawyers who support venue shopping in Pennsylvania.
At an October 27 hearing on the malpractice issue, Santasiero spoke against those attempting to reverse venue shopping. “If you think you’re here to testify about medical malpractice, you are mistaken,“ he said. “You’re here to support yet another attack on the foundations of our democracy.”
Really? Seriously? You’re trotting out that nonsense in this context?
Not all who are complicit with marauders in this world carry conventional weapons. They sometimes carry gavels, wear black robes, and try hard to keep them.
Will Pennsylvanians choose to let them keep those black robes?
Our commonwealth needs reasonable jurists — the kind who will not fight against an environment in which more white coats are available in Pennsylvania to deliver babies, treat your cancers, and care for your children.
Donohue, Dougherty, and Wecht have made that environment much harder to attain.
Marion Mass, M.D., is a practicing pediatrician in Bucks County and a leading member of the Free2Care movement.
