Malpractice crisis? Who says there's a malpractice crisis?

Recent revelations about the number of doctors practicing in Pennsylvania have cast serious doubt on whether there is, in fact, a "malpractice crisis."

Yet, despite a glaring lack of credible evidence, politicians in Harrisburg are rushing headlong toward taking away Pennsylvanians' Constitutional rights by placing "caps" on the amount of money juries can award victims.

Recent stories in The Morning Call of Allentown have completely discredited claims by the Pennsylvania Medical Society of doctors fleeing the state in droves. The Call quoted the Medical Society's chief researcher admitting to an 800-doctor gain since 2002. Over the past couple years, the medical lobby's count of fleeing doctors has fluctuated wildly - from 1,700 to 1,200 to 1,000 and, most recently, 507.

Those are numbers developed by the Medical Society and the American Medical Association, so their credibility is suspect at best.

Meanwhile, state licensure figures and the number of physicians paying into the state's MCARE Fund - numbers not controlled by the medical lobby - have shown steady increases in recent years.

Democratic leaders have called for an independent, nonpartisan task force to determine exactly how many doctors are practicing in Pennsylvania. Before lawmakers approve the drastic measure of caps to address the "malpractice crisis," they should at least determine whether there is one.

CJA urges the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania to call your state legislators and tell them to get the facts before taking away our rights.

The Committee for Justice for All is a nonprofit Northeastern Pennsylvania advocacy group fighting to preserve the integrity of the civil justice system and the Constitutional right of all Americans to trial by a jury of their peers.

Paul R. Lyon
Executive Director
The Committee for Justice for All
Scranton