Doctors, including surgeons and physicians are some of the most targeted groups for litigation in the sue-happy US. Fortunately, several states have enacted caps on medical malpractice damages that severely restrict the amount that a plaintiff may recover. However, it’s still far too common to have seven and eight-figure awards handed out to plaintiffs in several states. Medical malpractice insurance is meant to protect you against the impact of malpractice claims.
However, considering the size of some of the awards that are being handed out these days, it’s highly likely that your insurance policy won’t cover the entire amount. Besides, insurance companies are leery of covering physicians for medical malpractice. There’s plenty of fine print in your policy that is likely to go unnoticed, until you’re facing a multimillion dollar judgment against you.
If that happens, a plaintiff in a lawsuit will be free to attach all your assets, business or personal to recover his award money. That medical malpractice insurance that you paid thousands of dollars every year for, might not be so reliable in a crunch.
There’s another specific reason why doctors need asset protection, much more so than most other professionals. The government is cracking down heavily on Medicare and Medicaid fraud these days, as part of its health-care reforms. Even minor and genuine mistakes made in billing could lead to charges of health care fraud against you. In such cases, the government can penalize you and seize your assets.
If your assets are protected however, you remove the incentive for others to litigate against you. However, for this, it is imperative that your assets be protected before a lawsuit is filed against you.
This Post Has 0 Comments