The Pennsylvania Superior Court recently upheld a $43 Million Medical Malpractice Verdict in favor of Philadelphia Eagles Special Teams Star Chris Maragos.

This case highlights two common themes in Pennsylvania Medical Malpractice cases – the length of time it can take to litigate them and the potential for huge verdicts or devastating losses.

Why Does it Take So Long to Litigate a Malpractice Case?

The Maragos case has taken 7 plus years to litigate, with his injury having occurred in 2017 and the Superior Court upholding the Jury Verdict in 2024. Similarly, I have a Wrongful Death Medical Malpractice case where the victim died in 2016 and we are still waiting for our Trial.

Medical Malpractice cases tend to take many years to resolve.

Rather than settling, like most Car Accident or other Personal Injury Cases, Medical Malpractice cases are almost always vigorously defended, even if the Malpractice is fairly obvious.

Doctors must give their consent for the insurance company to negotiate a settlement and the State of Pennsylvania is the secondary insurer in most cases and is notoriously slow to review and settle cases.

At the same time, many Medical Malpractice cases are complicated, requiring lengthy Discovery and many Depositions of witnesses before Trial can be scheduled.

Once Discovery is complete, it’s also difficult to get Trial scheduled because there are a limited number of defense lawyers who handle these cases and they are often booked to try cases in multiple courts at the same time.

The net result is that the resolution of a typical Medical Malpractice cases takes years (and often many years) from the date of the incident.

Why Can Medical Malpractice Verdict be Very High or Low?

The $43 Million Maragos Verdict also demonstrates that Medical Malpractice Jury Verdicts can be huge, but they can also be zero.

In the Maragos case, the size of the Verdict was almost certainly driven by his career as a high paid professional football player. Maragos alleged that his football career was ended prematurely by the Malpractice of his knee surgeon and that he lost $9 million in future income. That lost income number, in turn, led to a huge Verdict after adding pain and suffering and the emotional impact of the loss of his “dream” career. The Maragos Verdict was probably also driven up by the claim that the doctor had intentionally altered medical records to try to cover up his Negligence and push the blame onto Maragos.

Other Medical Malpractice Verdicts are driven up by catastrophic injuries or egregious facts.

Nevertheless, many Medical Malpractice cases are lost at Trial, resulting in zero verdicts.

In the end, Medical Malpractice cases are risky for both sides, with doctors and hospitals facing the prospect of a huge verdict and not enough insurance to cover it, but with the victim also facing the risk of losing and getting nothing.