The present day medical practitioner faces so many problems and the medical malpractice suits are one of them. This type of suit is not only against the Doctors but also against nurses, other healthcare professionals and hospitals. When a healthcare professional is negligent in giving treatment to a patient he is guilty of medical malpractice. This arises when an action is taken or omitted to be taken as per the accepted standards. It is the person who alleges that he has suffered damages due to the wrong treatment has to prove the medical malpractice.
The basis of the medical malpractice is the legally binding duty on the healthcare professional to treat the patient and his failure to do so as per the standards of his profession. When this has caused injury or damage then the hospital or the doctor is liable to pay compensation. Now-a-days we can see that many of such suits are settled with payment of compensation. So, in these circumstances it is necessary for any healthcare professional to get himself covered for sufficient amounts under medical malpractice insurance policies. Most of the states have made such an insurance coverage a pre-requisite to start practicing by a healthcare professional though in some states it is an option.
We have many types of insurance policies that cover the medical malpractice claims. These can be divided into three main categories like Claims made policies, Occurrence policy and Claims-paid insurance policy as per the benefits offered and the type of coverage available under them. As each of them has different types of impact on the nature of coverage you must be very careful in selecting the right type of policy. The Claims made coverage policy provides cover for the acts of malpractice that took place during the currency of the policy period. This policy requires paying premium based on the present and past acts and the coverage for the future acts are not taken into account.
When you take an Occurrence coverage policy you can get coverage for the acts that happened during the period of policy irrespective of the date of filing of the claim. With this type of policy there is no coverage for past acts or those occurring after its termination. In a Claims paid coverage the premium is collected based on the claims raised during a particular period and this is applicable for the healthcare institutions. The exclusion terms in these policies are very important and they must be carefully considered before taking the policy.
The Medical Malpractice Insurance policies have the following as some of the exclusions like obligations arising out of a contract, Clinical trials that are conducted during research projects, genetic damage or manipulation, IVF treatments or the claims arising out of illegal, fraudulent ,dishonest, malicious acts and omissions etc. Paying more attention to these will help you get the best available coverage for you.
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