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'Junk Lawsuits'? Tinkering with the Tort Laws

By Karen M. Lerner, Esq.

On January 16, 2003, President George W. Bush addressed Pennsylvania physicians at the University of Scranton: 'There are too many lawsuits filed against doctors and hospitals without merit. And one thing the American people must understand is even though the lawsuits are junk lawsuits, and they have no basis, they're still expensive.'

Perception or reality ' the malpractice insurance 'crisis' and judicial backlogs have prompted more than a few states to tinker with their tort laws in an effort to stop the flow of 'frivolous' malpractice actions. In the last decade, several legislatures have enacted gatekeeper statutes requiring plaintiffs to demonstrate the probability of a deviation from standard medical practice at the very outset of the litigation. These statutes typically require an affidavit or certificate of merit by an expert before a case is allowed to proceed.

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