Court Opinion

ID: 9705087
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 00:56:09.267893+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:07.829692
License: Public Domain

BROSKY, Judge,
concurring:
I concur in the result. But I differ with the rationale employed in the majority opinion. It concludes that the Health Care Services Malpractice Act (HCSMA) provision in *197question here, 40 P.S. § 1301.602, is inapplicable to the case sub judice because it uses the word “award” and the case before us was settled. In my view this treatment is unnecessary, creates and undesirable method of deciding future cases in this area, and is used to draw a possibly erroneous conclusion.
First, it is unnecessary to rely upon this difference to reach the conclusion that the provisions of the HCSMA do not apply to actions in the Court of Common Pleas. Absent a clear statutory expression to the contrary, there is no reason to suppose that procedures set up under the HCSMA would have any effect on actions pursued in the Courts of our Commonwealth. In other words, it need not be proven that § 1301.602 does not govern in our courts. Quite to the contrary, the burden would be on the party seeking to establish that § 1301.602 does reach into the courtroom.
The fact that one of the many provisions of the HCSMA may carry over does not alter this basic presumption. There would appear to be quite definite reasons for holding that one of the parts of the HCSMA have currency in malpractice actions in our courts. 40 P.S. § 1301.701(d).1 This would, however, be the exception to the rule.
Second, I suggest that the majority opinion creates an unfortunate uncertainty as to which of the other provisions of the HCSMA may carry over into the courts, or, indeed, whether this provision would carry over under different facts. It does this by relying upon a specific difference between the HCSMA section in question and the facts of this case to decide that the section was not applicable here. The issue could have been resolved by asking whether there was any indication that HCSMA provisions in general should apply to actions in the courts. This side effect of the majority opinion is all the more regrettable as it is wholly unnecessary to the disposition of the case before us. There is no need for the question before us to be answered by specific arguments supporting the non-applicability of § 1301.602. As noted above, it is its applicability which *198would require a convincing argument. Without such an argument, its non-applicability would be the inevitable conclusion. In reaching the issue in the manner it has, the majority has utilized not only an unnecessary approach, but also a counter-productive one.
Third, I also have doubts about the accuracy of the implied distinction made between awards and settlements under the HCSMA. If, indeed, the action had remained under the HCSMA and had been settled, it is not at all clear to me that the provisions of § 1301.602 would not apply. The Act itself does not make an explicit distinction between an award and a settlement. Yet the majority opinion would reach such a situation. However, I do not believe that this question is presented by the facts of this case. Therefore, I do not make any firm conclusion myself on this matter; just as I do not think that the majority opinion should reach it.
In conclusion, the majority opinion establishes an unjustifiable procedure of having to establish the non-applicability of HCSMA provisions in court actions. It also makes an unwarranted and possibly erroneous holding as to settlements under the HCSMA.
I concur in the result.

. As this question is not presently before us, I would not go as far as my learned brothers in declaring that § 701(d) does carry over.