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A patient compensation fund (PCF), as the name suggests, helps to ensure reasonable compensation for patients who have been injured due to medical negligence. These funds were legislative responses to the medical malpractice crisis of the 1970s that saw several cascading factors threatening instability in the medical liability market. As state tort laws became more favorable to plaintiffs, plaintiff attorneys recognized the opportunities presented by medical malpractice lawsuits, especially in an environment of increasingly complex medicine.¹

Four federal tort reform bills that could affect medical liability law have passed the House of Representatives in the first session of the 115th United States Congress, with an additional medical liability bill having been introduced in the House.^1,4