Hundreds of doctors from across Pennsylvania will gather in State College tomorrow for a conference protesting the high rates of medical malpractice insurance.

The conference is part of the state's "Code Blue Emergency," said Chuck Moran, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Medical Society, adding that medical malpractice rates in Pennsylvania are high because there is no limit to the amount of money that doctors can be sued for.

The high costs of insurance cause doctors to leave Pennsylvania for states with lower insurance rates, jeopardizing medical centers, Moran said. Some hospitals and trauma centers in the state are already reduced to the minimum staff allowed by law, he said.

"We're having a hard time attracting young physicians -- we have a population of aging doctors," Moran said.

During the weeklong Code Blue protest, doctors throughout Centre County are showing their support for the protest in different ways, said Danae M. Powers, president of the Centre County Medical Society.

Some physicians are taking the week off to talk to legislators, while others are filling their waiting rooms with information about the cost of malpractice insurance for their patients, Powers said.

Information is the main weapon for physicians, and many are printing pamphlets and providing patients with addresses for state legislators, she said.

Some practices are also limiting scheduled elective cases, but all emergency cases will be taken care of, Powers said.

Powers said Centre County physicians need to protest because of the situation that high insurance creates throughout the state.

"For better or worse, Pennsylvania is one of the two states in the worst [insurance] situation," she added.

Mark Phenicie, legislative council at the Pennsylvania Trial Lawyers Association, said instating a cap on medical malpractice suits would be unfair for Pennsylvanians.

The proposed cap is $250,000 for non-economic damages, Phenicie said. The number comes from California's cap, which was instated in 1975, he said. With the rate of inflation, $250,000 would equate to $1.5 million today, Phenicie said.

"$250,000 is an embarrassing number," he added.

For those who sustain life-long damages at a young age -- such as infertility or disfigurement -- the amount "is not enough to give someone their life back," Phenicie said.

Caps should also not be allowed because they infringe on the Constitution's right to trial by jury, Phenicie said.

Other measures could be taken to lower the cost of malpractice insurance, such as readily available doctor profiles or stricter regulations for medical licenses, he said.

Right now, the majority of malpractice suits come from a very small minority of doctors, Phenicie said, meaning that all doctors have to pay for a few bad doctors. The caps would also most affect the minority of severely injured patients, Phenicie said.

"The caps only hurt the most severely injured patients -- that makes them even more unfair," he said.

Centre Community Hospital will be operating normally, said hospital spokeswoman Maureen Karstetter.

On Tuesday, "thousands" of doctors from across the state will be heading to Harrisburg to meet with legislators and to hold a demonstration on the steps of the Capitol, Moran said.

"Code Blue allows physicians and patients to exercise their first amendment rights," he said. "We're telling Pennsylvania that a storm is coming, and we're talking to elected officials before it gets worse."