A medical malpractice insurance policy is designed to protect doctors from misusing their knowledge or not applying the right practice at the right time. Medicine is a very complex field in which you cannot afford to make mistakes for the simple reason that your decision may injure someone temporarily, permanently or in the worst case scenario, even take someone's life. A medical malpractice insurance policy protects one as much as possible against such disasters.
How Does a Medical Malpractice Insurance Policy Work?
The provider of the medical malpractice insurance policy has two primary obligations - defense and indemnity. The obligations to defend requires the provider to hire a lawyer to defend the charges bought against the alleged doctor and; the obligation to indemnify requires the provider to pay an amount up to the policy limits settlement or judgment on any covered claim against the doctor.
The policy provider will generally hire a lawyer that has been agreed upon mutually with the doctor to work on the case, and pay all fees necessary for the hired lawyer; while the accused doctor is allowed to hire another lawyer on their own the policy provider is not required to pay that additional fees. Keep in mind that the company's lawyer will have its best interests at heart, not necessarily yours.
Finally, a medical malpractice insurance policy has the 'consent to settle' clause' that requires the insurance carrier to obtain the doctor's approval in order to settle the case. When pleading to consent to settle which does happen many times, the doctor places the power of decision regarding the settlement with the insurance company.
The Duties of the Insured Doctor
The doctor who bought the policy does have some obligations to fulfill beyond merely paying the premium every month; for instance, in case of a filed claim, the insurance policy requires the doctor to cooperate fully in order to have a smooth investigation of the filed case, and the doctor is required to provide any data requested by the investigators with regard to the victim and case.
Many medical malpractice suits are settled out of the court, usually coming to a mutual understanding beneficial to both parties. However, such lawsuits require a lot of time and energy from both parties in order to provide all data required and attend all required hearings. They are stressful and often take their toll on both the parties. A medical malpractice insurance policy is meant to protect both the doctor and the patient at the same time; acting as an arbitrary party in order to bring light on the actual happenings.