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Home News & Case Notes Supreme Court promulgates rules changes to pretrial procedures in med-mal cases (3/31/2004) - On March 29, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court announced the implementation of new civil procedural rules addressing pretrial procedures in medical professional liability actions and further unifying the handling of such cases. Chief Justice Ralph J. Cappy said that the rules changes are meant to “promote mediation and streamline case processing” of medical professional liability actions.  The new statewide rules changes cover three specific areas: mediation, pretrial discovery, and conforming evidence. The mediation rule change “establishes a statewide mechanism for parties to settle medical malpractice issues as an alternative to litigation, providing a quicker and less costly means to resolve disputes,” according to the press release. The new rules also provide for the uniform use of such procedures in litigating medical malpractice cases in all of Pennsylvania’s 60 judicial districts, according to the press release. Cappy said this is based on experience in Allegheny and Philadelphia counties “suggesting that the effective use of case management procedures can speed the medical malpractice litigation process and save time and resources of litigants and courts alike.” “These new civil procedural rules have the potential to reduce the number of medical malpractice trials and more effectively manage caseloads when such trials are necessary,” Chief Justice Cappy said. “We believe that litigants, the courts, and the medical and legal communities will all benefit by these changes.” Other procedural rules changes were made by the court last year in medical malpractice liability cases. One required lawyers to obtain a certificate of merit from a medical professional that establishes the medical work in a case falls outside acceptable standards. Another change requires medical malpractice actions to be brought only in the county where the cause of action takes place. The new rules are available on the Unified Judicial System Web site through the Supreme Court Opinions’ current month’s opinions and postings link.