If you run your own medical practice, then it’s important to ensure that your business is protected by the appropriate kinds of insurance policies. While many business owners understand the importance of talking to an insurance company about different sorts of limited liability insurance or insurance policies that cover fires, floods, or other hazardous weather events, it’s just as important that your medical office is insured for other sorts of things, too. One such kind of coverage to ensure that you have a policy in has to do with medical malpractice.
Whether you’re a dentist, orthopedic surgeon, or work in any other sort of field, it’s important to recognize that all medical professionals can benefit from having a malpractice insurer. According to the professionals at Hipskind & McAninch, LLC, if a legal team decides that you’re negligent and caused a patient’s condition to worsen or not be treated appropriately, they may come after you by pressing a personal injury case. The last thing you want to have to do is defend yourself against a personal injury lawsuit, especially since personal injury cases can drag on and take a lot of time, money, and energy to fight. Just because you’ve got years of experience as a medical professional doesn’t mean that you aren’t at risk of facing a medical malpractice case from a personal injury attorney in Salem, OR, or wherever you’re located. Read on to see why medical malpractice insurance can be a major lifeline for medical professionals and what sorts of things an insurance company can cover as your malpractice insurer.
What does medical malpractice insurance cover?
At its heart, medical malpractice insurance covers medical professionals and their assets in the case that a personal injury attorney presses charges against them on behalf of a client. A wrongful death claim or even negligence lawsuit can really affect your medical practice if you don’t have enough money to pay for legal fees at the time and still keep your business afloat. As such, medical malpractice insurance serves as a professional form of liability insurance for medical claims, assuming that you have a policy that covers the timeframe when the alleged malpractice occurred.
Some policies will cover issues that happened based on when the event occurred, even if you have a different policy when charges are made. Other policies will require that you had a medical malpractice insurance policy period that overlaps the alleged negligence as well as when personal injury claims are filed. It may also be possible to get something called tail coverage which tacks an extra few years on at the end of the culmination of your policy for added protection; however, not all insurance companies offer this sort of coverage, so make sure to talk to your insurer about coverage options.
What doesn’t medical malpractice insurance cover?
It’s critical to understand that medical malpractice protection from a malpractice policy only covers you when you’re acting as a medical professional on the up-and-up. That is to say, malpractice policies can’t protect you against sexual misconduct, harassment, or assault allegations that occur at your medical practice or if you were knowingly acting in bad faith. For example, if you’ve illegally altered medical documents to cover up problems in your practice, you will not be able to have your criminal defense costs covered with your insurance policy. As such, it’s important to be on top of running your practice effectively and fairly if you truly want to be able to take advantage of your malpractice policy. Otherwise, even if you have the appropriate kind of coverage, you’ll need to take legal representation costs into your own hands, since your insurance carrier won’t be able to help you.
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