WLC students participate in debate, panel discussion with medical residents at orthopaedic conference
Students from Widener Law Commonwealth and orthopaedic residents from Milton S. Hershey Medical Center had the opportunity on October 7, 2022, to present and discuss an issue central to current (and future) legal and medical professionals during the annual Pennsylvania Orthopaedic Society Conference in Hershey.
Students Kelly Groom, Emily LaGreca, Gabrielle Martin, and Curtis Tokach conducted extensive research and presented legal arguments on the change of venue rule regarding medical malpractice lawsuits. Previously, state law required medical malpractice claims could only be brought in the county where the malpractice case occurred. In August 2022, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that medical malpractice suits could be filed in any county in Pennsylvania. That change officially takes effect on January 1, 2023.
The students, who were assisted by WLC alumnus Scott Cooper ’93, a personal injury attorney and adjunct professor at the law school, all agreed the experience was very rewarding.
“I think the most interesting part of the event was hearing the orthopaedic residents speak on how the changes in venue rules will impact their practice, how it could result in insurance companies not wanting to provide coverage for high-risk practice areas, such as obstetrics and gynecology and neurosurgery, and how it could result in physicians retiring early or choosing to practice outside of Pennsylvania, which in turn would cause patients to travel further for the care they need,” said LaGreca.
“I was able to learn about an aspect of the law that I was not familiar with, work with my classmates and alumni on a challenging problem and end up watching it all come together,” added Martin. In addition, she said she also “learned a lot about myself and that hard work truly does pay off.”
Groom said seeing how the residents viewed this issue was intriguing.
“I enjoyed being able to connect with the (medical) residents and understand the issue from their point of view. While it was our job to look at the law and understand the arguments from both sides, it was interesting to see how the residents interpreted the law and determined the issues they feel will impact them further in their career.”
“Though their paths will diverge in the future, medical residents and law students have much in common,” said WLC alumnus Jonathan Bigley ’94, a member of the Law and Government Institute Advisory Board who assisted in organizing the panel. “Both are honing their skills and knowledge to prepare for challenging careers ‘helping people when they most need it,’ to quote Widener Law Commonwealth Professor Randy Lee. Since 2017, the Pennsylvania Orthopaedic Society has offered this unique opportunity for WLC students and Penn State Hershey orthopaedic residents to cooperatively expand their understandings of legal issues as applied to medicine, and medical practice as affected by legal issues. These presentations have also been very much appreciated by the orthopaedic surgeon audiences who have enjoyed witnessing the next generation of young professionals at work,” he added.
Tokach encourages law students to seriously consider participating in a future panel presentation.
“I would absolutely recommend this experience to anyone who is interested. The networking and professionalism opportunities were extremely beneficial. Additionally, I believe the opportunity to speak in front of a group of such distinguished professionals helped prepare me for my future career of public speaking,” he said.
“It was a pleasure to work with Widener Law Commonwealth students in preparation for this event,” said Cooper. “It was the first time they had the opportunity to dive deep into an area of law that they weren’t as familiar with, and learn from each other, notably how a change in the law can have significant impacts in the legal and medical fields. It also provided them the opportunity to hone their public speaking skills and network with a variety of professionals attending the conference.”
(Kelly Groom, Emily LaGreca, Gabrielle Martin, and Curtis Tokach are pictured with Scott Cooper '93, at the conference. More photos can be found on the WLC Flickr page.)
