ATRA’s report indicates Pennsylvania has drastically improved. Nothing could be further from the truth. ATRA’s report simply mirrors newspaper and press release fodder–not researched evidence. For example, the report only repeats what the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reports: the number of medical malpractice cases by year. But the Supreme Court only counts cases–not the number of Doctors and Hospitals and Others sued within those cases.

The Pennsylvania Department of State shows far different numbers as it actually reports numbers of litigants within those cases–and the Department’s numbers demonstrate that Pennsylvania still suffers from rampant lawsuit abuse.

Both sides–the trial lawyers, and the vicitims of lawsuit abuse have good reason to question ATRA’s report.

I’ve also had good luck (essentially as a defendant) in Nassau and Suffolk and other New York counties not noted in my first paragraph.

Trust me, plaintiffs’ attorney gleefully point out in their negotiations that the case will be heard by such-and-such a jury pool (Bronx/Kings). In other words: good luck getting a rational non-demagogic argument to stick in a venue where the jurors simply want to stick it to the defendant.

Trip over a sidewalk crack in Bronx and you’ll get money…sometimes an obscene amount. I’ve seen it folks.