OPINION BY
¶ 1 Aрpellants appeal from the March 19, 2003 Order granting preliminary objec
¶2 This case arises from two related medical malpractice actions originally filed in Luzerne County.
¶ 3 Appellants filed a petition to transfer the case from Luzerne County to Montour County pursuant to 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 5101.1, Venue in medical professional liability actions,
If there is any basis to affirm a trial court’s decision to transfer venue, the decisiоn must stand. Moreover, the standard of review is one of abuse of discretion. An abuse of discretion is shown by a record of misapplication of the law, or judgment that is manifestly unreasonable, or motivated by partiality, prejudice, bias, or ill-will.
Kring v. University of Pittsburgh,
¶ 5 The trial court found venue was improper in Luzerne County but proper in Columbia County. Appellants disagree and contеnd venue is proper in Montour County. Either venue is proper in Columbia County or it is not. See Kring, at 676. There is no difference proeedurally between a claim that the action is before the wrong tribunal and a claim that the action was brought before a court lacking competence to entertain it. Id. If, as appellant alleges, venue in Columbia County is improper, the Court of Common Pleas of Columbia County has no jurisdiction to hear the case. Id. Within this factual and legal context, we endeavor to resolve this issue.
¶ 6 This case turns on a determination of the county in which the cause of action arose. While we have no comprehensive definition for the phrase “cause of action,” Pennsylvania courts have defined it to mean the negligent act or omission, as opposed to the injury which flows from the tortious conduct, in cases involving claims based upon negligence. Sunderland v. R.A. Barlow Homebuilders,
¶ 7 We first consider the recent holding of Olshan v. Tenet Health System City Ave., LLC,
¶ 8 In Olshan, we noted that the rules for venue for a medical negligence action are found at Pa.R.C.P. 1006 and that these rules were amended along with the statu
¶ 9 Rule 1006, as noted previously, providеs that, “a medical professional liability action may be brought against a health care provider for a medical professional liability claim only in a county in which the cause of action arose.” Pa.R.C.P. 1006(a.l). Rule 1006 refers us to 42 Pa. C.S.A. § 5101.1(c) for the definition of “medical professional liability claim,” which is defined as,
[a]ny claim seeking the recovery of dаmages or loss from a health care provider arising out of any tort or breach of contract causing injury or death resulting from the furnishing of health care services which were or should have been provided.
42 Pa.C.S.A. § 5101.1(c) (emphasis supplied). Given this definition, we held in Olshan that since all the medical care was furnished to the patient in Montgomery County, the cause of action, i.e. failure to diagnose, arose in Montgomery County. Venue was not proper in Philadelphia, we concludеd, because no health care was “furnished” to the patient there.
¶ 10 Although Olshan does not directly answer the question before us, we believe its holding is instructive, i.e. under Rule 1006(a.l), the cause of action arose in the county in which medical care was furnished to the patient. Here, medical care was furnished to appellee Peters in Mont-our County.
¶ 11 In Olshan, we also considered the expressed legislative intent to reform venue rules.
In accordance with section 514(a) of the act of March 20, 2002 (P.L. 154, No. 13), known as the Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error (MCARE) Act, and as a matter of public policy, the General Assembly further declares the need to change the venue requirements for medical professional liability actions.
42 Pa.C.S.A. § 5101.1(a), Declaration of policy.
The General Assembly further recognizes that recent changes in the health care delivery system have necessitated a revamping of the corporate structure for various medical facilities and hospitals across this Commonwealth. This has unduly expanded the reach and scope of existing venue rules. Training of new physicians in mаny geographic regions has also been severely restricted by the resultant expansion of venue applicability rules. These physicians and health care institutions are essential to maintaining the high quality of health care that our citizens have come to expect.
40 P.S. § 1303.514(a), Declaration of policy. Considering this expressed intent to circumscribe venue rules in medical liability actions, we concluded that the new venue rules provided in Section 5101.1 and Pa.R.C.P. 1006 sought to alleviate the situation where venue is greatly expanded due to the new corporate structure of health care, and sought to limit venue “to the location of the alleged negligent care.” Ol-shan, supra, at 1218. In the context of this reform, we again limit venue to the
¶ 12 Our conclusion is further bolstered by our holding in Sunderland, supra. In Sunderland, we were faced with the question of whether, when a decedent is fatally injured in one county but dies in another, a wrongful dеath claim arises in the county of the initial tortious conduct or in the county of death. The plaintiffs brought the case in the county where the decedent died, but the trial court found venue was improper there and transferred the underlying action to the county where the wrongful act occurred. The plaintiffs appealed and this Court affirmed.
¶ 13 In so concluding, we considered Rules 1006 and 2179. We also considered the language of Pennsylvania’s Wrongful Death Act,
¶ 14 Sunderland dictates that if Jean Peters had died in Columbia County as a result of her allergic reaction to the Prednisone which was prescribed to her in Montour County, for the purposes of venue, a cаuse of action for wrongful death would have arisen in Montour County, i.e. the situs of the alleged negligent act, the prescription of Prednisone. It is illogical to suggest that since the allergic reaction was not fatal, the cause of action arose in Columbia County, where she suffered the injury. Again, the cause of action for wrongful death is derivative of the injury which would have supported the decedent’s own cause of action. Moreover, our law is clear that “[t]he primary element in any negligence action is that the defendant owes a duty of care to the plaintiff. It has long been hornbook law that a duty arises only when one engages in conduct which foreseeably creates an unreasonable risk of harm to others.” R.W. v. Manzek,
¶ 15 We must also point out that we find this case to be distinguishable from both Openbrier v. General Mills, Inc.,
¶ 16 Emert involved a personal injury action arising from the use of a defectively manufaсtured or designed slingshot. At issue was the validity of the deputized service of a writ of summons. The plaintiffs initiated the action in Philadelphia County, where the defendant, a manufacturer, wholesaler and distributor of toys, had its place of business, and where the alleged negligence occurred. The Court analyzed the former Pa.R.C.P. 1043 which provided:
[w]hen an action against аn individual is commenced in the county where the cause of action arose, the plaintiff shall have the right of service in any other county by having the sheriff of the county in which the action was commenced deputize the sheriff of the other county where service may be had.
Id., at 398-399,
¶ 17 These two cases are distinguishable from the instant case in that they involve personal service not venue, and also in that they involve manufacturers and distributors of products who should be aware their products will reach distant markets and that may be subject to service in those areas. Here, however, appellee Peters sought treatment from physicians in Mont-our County. It simply does not comport with our sense of fairness to hold that a person could seek medical attention from a physician in one county, receive a prescription from that physician, and then go to any county to ingest that medication, and the physician would be subject to venue in whatever county that happens to be. If Peters had traveled to Allegheny County on a shopping trip for instance, and ingested the medication there, it simply makes no sense to say that the cause of action arose in Allegheny County and therefore it is the only proper venue pursuant to Pa.R.C.P. 1006. Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 128, Presumptions in Ascertaining the Intent of the Supreme Court, (a) provides “[t]hat the Supreme
¶ 18 In accordance with the above, since the alleged negligent acts at issue here, i.e. prescription of the drug Prednisone to Jean Peters, occurred in Montour County, venue properly lies there.
¶ 19 Ordеr vacated; venue transferred to Montour County and case remanded for proceedings in accordance with this Opinion.
¶ 20 Jurisdiction relinquished.
Notes
. The first, (Common Pleas no. 5894-C-2002, our 694 MDA 2003 and 920 MDA 2003), was initiated by writ on August 28, 2002. The captioned parties are Jean Peters as plaintiff and Drs. Subhasish, Sidorov, and Anderson and Geisinger Medical Center as defendants. On September 10, 2002, a second writ was issued (Common Plеas no. 6346-C-2002, our 695 MDA 2003 and 921-MDA-2003). In that case, Dennis Peters was added as a plaintiff, and Geisinger Medical Group, Geisinger Clinic-Danville and Geis-inger System Services were listed as corporate defendants. Complaints were filed in both actions on November 19, 2002. The complaints are identical with the exception of the parties and a consortium count added at 6346-C-2002. It аppears that Dr. Subhasish (whose name also appears in the record as Dr. Subasish) was never served and an appearance has not been entered on his behalf in the trial court or in this Court. He did not participate in any proceedings at the trial court and is not participating in this appeal.
. 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 5101.1 Venue in medical professional liаbility actions, (b) General Rule, provides,
Notwithstanding any other provision to the contrary, a medical professional liability action may be brought against a health care provider for a medical professional liability claim only in the county in which the cause of action arose.
42 Pa.C.S.A. § 5101.1. Although an en banc panel of the Commonwealth Court recently found 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 5101.1 to be unconstitutional because it held the matter of venue is procedural in nature and therefore committed to the exclusive authority of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, see North-Central Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Assoc. v. Weaver,
. Amended Pa.R.C.P. 1006(a.l) provides, in relevant part, that "a medical professional liability action may be brought against a health cаre provider for a medical professional liability claim only in a county in which the cause of action arose.” Pa.R.C.P. 1006(a.l). Our Supreme Court added subsection (a.l) to Rule 1006 on January 27, 2003. Pursuant to its amendatory Order of March 5, 2003, the Supreme Court made Rule 1006 applicable to medical professional liability actions filed on or after January 1, 2002. As these actions were filed in August and September 2002, amended Rule 1006 is applicable.
. Amended Rule 2179, which pertains to venue in personal actions against a corporation or similar entity, reiterates that Rule 1006(a.l) governs venue in actions for "medical professional liability.” The Supreme Court’s March 5, 2003 Order also made amended Rule 2179 applicable to medical professional liability actions filed on or after January 1, 2002.
. See also, Boarts v. McCord,
. Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error (MCARE) Act, 40 P.S. §§ 1303.101 et seq.
. 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 8301, Death Action, provides:
(a) General Rule. — An action may be brought, under procedures рrescribed by general rules, to recover damages for the death of an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect or unlawful violence or negligence of another ...
Id. (emphasis supplied).
. The elements necessary to plead an action in negligence are:
(1)the existence of a duty or obligation recognized by law, requiring the actor to conform to a certain standard of conduct;
(2) a failure on the part of the defendant to conform to that duty, or a breach thereof;
(3) a causal connection between the defendant’s breach and the resulting injury; and
(4) actual loss or damage suffered by the complainant.
R.W. v. Manzek,
. We also note that Pa.R.C.P. 2179(a)(4), which provides that a personal action against a corporation or similar entity may be brought "in a county where a transaction or occurrence took place out of which the cause of action arose,” is a very broad venue provision, but is nevertheless intended to ensure that the county selected for suit bears a substantial relationship to the controversy. Purcell v. Bryn Mawr Hosp.,
