Nearly all countries of the US, Canada and European Union require that the medical professionals are effectively covered under a medical malpractice insurance. The medical professionals usually buy their medical malpractice insurance from a commercial company. Hospitals purchase their own medical malpractice insurance policy that covers both the hospital and its medical staff. Medical professionals employed by the federal govern¬ments usually do not buy medical malpractice insurance; in case any legal suit is filed then the suit is brought against the federal government, which insures itself.

Premiums for medical malpractice insurance vary with the insurer’s extent of risk coverage. Insurers set their premiums based on the facts like their expected payouts in a particular risk group; the degree of uncertainty encapsulat¬ing this estimate; the expected administrative expenses and future investment income of the insurer and the rate of profit sought by the insurers. Medical malpractice insurance does not work like auto insurance, like when a motorist has a claim, his insurance premiums go up. Medical mal¬practice insurance premiums are usually priced according to the medical professional’s specialty and geographic location only. For hospitals, some degree of experience rating occurs. Hospital premiums also vary with hospital location and the clinical ser¬vices offered by them.

Read the rest of this entry »

Only a handful of the doctors face any serious sanctions each year is a pittance compared to the volume of injury and death of patients caused by negligence of doctors. A recent study it was estimated that as many as 98,000 patients may be killed each year in hospitals alone as a result of medical malpractices in the United States alone.

It is very surprising to know that at least 1 percent of doctors in the United States really deserve serious disciplinary action for the medical malpractices each year. This amounts to approximately 7,703 doctors to be punished each year, but the real figure far exceeds the actual number of doctors to be punished.

Sexual misconduct with a patient is also a serious issue and it can be effectively included in medical malpractices. Ten percent of psychiatrists surveyed recently confessed their involvement in sexual contact with a patient. Most surprisingly most of them not even penalized for the malpractice.

Read the rest of this entry »