That's up from 20 percent from the preceding four-year period. Some high-risk specialties have been hit especially hard. According to Pennsylvania's CAT Fund, although the Philadelphia region was home to 146 practicing neurosurgeons in 1997, by 2000 the number was just 99, down nearly a third. These figures don't surprise Dr. Carol E. Rose, president of the Pennsylvania Medical Society. This group told us that they are on the verge of bankruptcy.
Juries award large medical malpractice settlements in only the most egregious cases.
Skyrocketing jury awards and malpractice insurance premiums are to blame for the physician exodus, says Pennsylvania Medical CAT Fund Director John Reed. Now the gloves are off. Juries award large medical malpractice settlements in only the most egregious cases. These kinds of lawsuits are not frivolous. If there wasn't a malpractice that happened initially, there wouldn't be a malpractice case or malpractice verdict.