The medical malpractice suit is one of the primary problems faced by the present day medical practitioner. Doctors, Nurses other health professionals including Hospitals are facing this type of suits. A medical malpractice is said to have been committed by a healthcare professional if he is negligent in treating a patient. When an action is done or not done as per the accepted standards a medical malpractice occurs. The person who is claiming that he has been subjected to negligent treatment and he has been put to suffer due to this has to prove the same.
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.
There is a variety of medical malpractice insurance coverage available. Based on the type of coverage and the benefits given under these policies we can divide them as Claims made policies, Occurrence policy and Claims-paid insurance policies. The policies operate under different terms and it is the duty of the health care professional to find out the right type of policy for him. When you want to have coverage only for the alleged acts during the policy period then you have to get Claims made coverage policy. Under this policy the premium is arrived at with respect to the past and current liabilities and the liabilities that may arise at a future date are not included.
The Occurrence coverage policy covers the incidents that were alleged during the coverage period and not as per the period of filing the claim. As per the terms of the policy there is no coverage for past acts or those occurring during the termination of the policy. The policy that is available for healthcare institutions is the Claims paid coverage and in this the cumulative amounts of claims paid during a particular period is taken as the basis for premium. All these insurance policies have many exclusion terms that have to be considered carefully before taking the policy.
Among most common exclusions included in a Medical Malpractice Insurance are Clinical trials that are conducted during research projects, genetic damage or manipulation, obligations arising out of a contract, IVF treatments or the claims arising out of illegal, fraudulent ,dishonest, malicious acts and omissions etc. So it is very important that you must pay utmost attention to these while taking the policy.
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