�The Pennsylvania Bar Association is opposed to any state or federal legislation that proposes to cap or limit the recovery on non-economic damages for injuries resulting in death or for injuries to persons or property. The PBA supports and encourages the development of legislation that will provide relief in the medical professional liability insurance crisis, provided that such relief does not impose arbitrary limits on the right to recover non-economic damages.

For that reason, the PBA supports the adoption of Senate Resolution 160, which calls for a reasoned and thoughtful approach to resolving the remaining medical malpractice issues through a timely study and report by the Joint State Government Commission to the Senate. Alternatively, we urge opposition to any tort cap amendments to Senate Bill 9, drawn from either Senate Bill 50, House Bill 1326 or Senate Bill 1000, or other similarly proposed concepts.

The PBA believes that the medical malpractice issue is about health care, not about lawyers or the courts. A recent Health Policy Report published in the New England Journal of Medicine explains there are two critical public policy issues that distinguish the current medical malpractice issue from past debates � medical cost reimbursement levels and patient safety. These are the issues that need to be addressed. Award limitations would, at best, address the symptoms, not the causes of the problem.

Assuring that the fundamental issues of justice and equity are met for all parties involved ought to be our common goal. We need to look forward, not to the past, for answers to this issue.�