John Mirabella Quoted in Article on PA Healthcare Providers’ Push for Changes in Medical Liability
(Philadelphia, PA)– Attorney John Mirabella of Duffy + Partners was quoted in a recent article on the status of Philadelphia Med Mal Filings in 2010.
In this May 24th, 2011 article published in the Legal Intelligencer, it was reported that, even though Pennsylvania reports eight years of steep declines in medical malpractice case filings (from a high of 2,904 in 2002 to 1,491 in 2010), health care providers in Pennsylvania are still pushing for further changes in medical liability law.
The article discussed several factors for the decline and how health care providers are saying that more changes are needed because of high liability premiums and physicians are reporting that they are practicing "defensive medicine."
In addition to other attorneys quoted for their views on the issue, Mirabella, who is co-chair of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Medical-Legal Committee and who focuses his practice entirely on issues related to Birth Injury, Medical Malpractice and Catastrophic Personal Injury, opined that the "crisis" created by the period of high filings "wasn't one of frivolous cases but of inappropriately high or excessive insurance premiums."
From the article:
Mirabella said that his point of view can be demonstrated by the fact that lawsuits are down almost 50 percent statewide, but premiums for medical liability insurance are not down.
Cases have gone down, but medical errors have not gone up, Mirabella said.
Mirabella pointed to a 2006 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine , which found that claims that did not involve errors were twice as likely to go to trial, were one-third as likely to result in compensation and payments averaged 60 percent of the amount for error claims.
The result of Act 13 of 2002 has been that some meritorious cases do not get into court, Mirabella said. The potential values of cases that do not involve special damages, such as elderly plaintiffs or plaintiffs who are no longer working, are hard to prognosticate and "it makes those cases very risky for plaintiffs lawyers to accept," Mirabella said.
The attorneys of Duffy + Partners focus their work exclusively in the areas of birth trauma; medical malpractice; professional malpractice; motor vehicle and trucking accidents; construction accidents; aviation law and aircraft disaster; premises liability; product liability and maritime accidents. The firm also represents patent holders in enforcement cases.