First, let’s understand what medical professional indemnity insurance is – so we can understand what the best professional medical indemnity insurance is, in fact.
Medical Professional Liability Insurance aims to protect the doctor’s reputation and assets from convictions for professional failures. The insurance covers bodily, moral, and aesthetic damage that is caused by a medical error. In addition, the insurance also guarantees defense costs so that the doctor can hire lawyers and experts to prove that he has followed all the required procedures.
- Bodily Damage: Physical damage to the patient – such as injuries, sequelae, death, and disability. It may also include medical expenses (treatment, hospitalization, medication) and pension.
- Moral Damages: psychological damages caused to the patient and family by bodily harm or death of a family member. Not all Insurers support this coverage – if it is not accompanied by bodily harm.
- Aesthetic Damage: Marks, scars, and deficiencies caused by medical error. Not all Insurers support this risk.
Additional Coverages
Depending on the doctor’s risk profile, he may need other coverage, such as:
- Team leader
- Clinical Director
- Extension for Legal Entities
How much does it cost to defend against a lawsuit?
Lawyers charge around 20% of the value of the case to defend the case; that is, in a case of R$ 100,000.00 – the defense costs would be around R$ 20 thousand reais. It is important to mention that if a patient dies, the conviction can easily exceed R$ 500 thousand, and this can cost a significant amount of the doctor’s assets.
This is an important issue to pay attention to when contracting malpractice insurance, as insurance companies have limitations on defense costs while others do not impose limits. In practice, we know that defense costs are high, and these limitations must be considered when choosing the best insurance.
How much does Medical Professional Liability Insurance Cost?
The value of the insurance varies according to the areas of practice/specialties in which the doctor works and the amount insured (which can range from R$100,000 to R$1 million). An interesting way to “dilute” the cost of insurance is to divide the annual insurance amount by the number of consultations the doctor makes during the year. For example: if the annual insurance cost is R$5,000 and the doctor makes an average of 960 consultations per year, this means that each consultation will cost R$5.20 to pay for the insurance.
Which spheres are covered?
Some Insurers support only in the civil sphere, while others support all below.
- Civil Sphere
- Administrative Sphere
- Criminal Sphere
Which Insurers work with Medical Liability Insurance?
There are currently several insurance companies operating in this market, including:
- Caruana
- Argo Protector
- Chubb
- excelsior
- Factor
- safe harbor
- Mapfre Seguros
- Unimed Seguros
But what is the best Medical Liability Insurance?
It depends. Because there are many details that must be taken into consideration when hiring, among them:
- Does the doctor perform procedures with an aesthetic purpose? If so, it is necessary to seek an insurance company that supports the aesthetic risk. And attention aesthetic risk is different from aesthetic damage. Some Insurers cover cosmetic damage caused by a restorative procedure but do not cover a cosmetic procedure.
- Are Defense Cost Limitations Relevant to You? If yes, look for an insurance company that does not have limitations – today, there are some alternatives.
- Action in the pandemic? There is an insurance company that does not cover cases related to covid19. If this is your area, be careful.
- Do you have positions such as team leader or technical manager? Look for an insurance company that has these additional coverages; in some, it doesn’t even have a cost.
- Will I have coverage in which spheres? Some Insurers only cover the civil sphere, others in the administrative and criminal sphere – which is very important for the medical area.
Faced with so many questions, it is difficult to say which is the Best Insurer, as there is no unanimity; it varies a lot according to the risk of each specialty. The aesthetic risk may be irrelevant for an orthopedist, but not for a plastic surgeon. For an on-call doctor who works in the covid19 ward, it is essential to have coverage for processes related to the pandemic, while it may be irrelevant for an anesthesiologist.
To hire insurance that really meets your needs, talk to an expert and hire insurance tailored to you!
