Professional Liability "umbrella"-type insurance

[pslfhopeful]

Finishing training and signed a job with an academic hospital.  Obviously, medical malpractice is covered.  My question, what if a potential future lawsuit against me supercedes the provided malpractice maximum coverage?

Does anyone know if there is a personal plan of umbrella insurance geared for physicians?

Am I being too cautious?  Perhaps, medical malpractice covers everything and this is unnecessary?

Thanks.

[Zaphod]

Likelihood of going over your limits depends on your states laws and limits so depends where youre at. Otherwise, depends on your specialty, etc...probably over cautious.

[Hatton]

Try not to worry about this.  The plaintiff attorney will settle for your insurance in almost all cases.

[VagabondMD]

I have a good friend who is a plaintiff attorney for med mal, and I have asked him the same question, in many different ways, over the years. Unless you are intentionally or criminally negligent and a complete jerk to the patient and the process and you have intentionally underinsured, it is virtually unheard of to personally lose more than your limit.

[thomashackett]

I'm an attorney, but not a plaintiff's attorney. I do estate planning and asset protection. Go for the low hanging fruit of asset protection and get as much money as possible in your retirement accounts.

[Jim]

I have umbrella insurance.  Unfortunately, when they issued the policy, they stated in the cover page something to the effect of "we noticed that you're a doctor.  This insurance does NOT cover medical malpractice."  Insurance cos. aren't stupid, after all.

[jfoxcpacfp]

Sj wrote:

slightly aside of topic.  I like your retirement account point.  It probably varies state to state, but i thought i would ask anyway are 529s and UTMA for ones children protected similarly to retirement accounts?

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UTMA and UGMA accounts are legally owned by the minor and, thus, are protected from creditors. In general, funds deposited in 529 accounts for over 2 years are also protected. Less than that length of time - it may be at risk as the person making the deposit is the owner. As you alluded to, check the laws in your state.

[Peds]

pslfhopeful wrote:

Finishing training and signed a job with an academic hospital.  Obviously, medical malpractice is covered.  My question, what if a potential future lawsuit against me supercedes the provided malpractice maximum coverage?

Does anyone know if there is a personal plan of umbrella insurance geared for physicians?

Am I being too cautious?  Perhaps, medical malpractice covers everything and this is unnecessary?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

Umbrella insurance has nothing to do with malpractice.

[DCdoc]

@peds: did you really respond to this 2 years after the last post? Ha. Remind me to never ask you an important question needing an immediate answer...

[pslfhopeful]

Peds wrote:

pslfhopeful wrote:

Finishing training and signed a job with an academic hospital.  Obviously, medical malpractice is covered.  My question, what if a potential future lawsuit against me supercedes the provided malpractice maximum coverage?

Does anyone know if there is a personal plan of umbrella insurance geared for physicians?

Am I being too cautious?  Perhaps, medical malpractice covers everything and this is unnecessary?

Thanks.

Click to expand…

Umbrella insurance has nothing to do with malpractice.

Click to expand...

I intended to ask about an "umbrella-like" plan to cover liability above and beyond that included by my employer's plan.

Are there products of the sort?

[Peds]

DCdoc wrote:

@peds: did you really respond to this 2 years after the last post? Ha. Remind me to never ask you an important question needing an immediate answer…

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apparently the question remains unanswered. maybe you know how to be helpful reading a response to a 2 year old thread?

[DCdoc]

I believe the answer is “no.” I’ve never heard of it. If I’m wrong, peds can tell you otherwise in 2020.

[jfoxcpacfp]

DCdoc wrote:

@peds: did you really respond to this 2 years after the last post? Ha. Remind me to never ask you an important question needing an immediate answer…

Click to expand...

It’s not too uncommon on this forum for a thread to be picked back up awhile after the original post. Sometimes a participant has something relevant that can add significance to the convo - why not post it? Because there are so many physician lurkers, new posters can add helpful thoughts months after the thread has gone quiet.

They are not dead, just dormant bwahahahaha  8-)

[White.Beard.Doc]

If you are working for an academic hospital as an employee of the hospital, your employer has liability exposure for anything you do while an employee. So effectively, your employer is your excess coverage. You have nothing to worry about.  I say this based on years of experience being involved with physician and hospital risk management.

For example, take a bad baby case where the doc is found to have delayed delivery leading to brain damage. Jury awards 30MM. Doc has 1MM in coverage. They take the 1MM from the doc’s insurance and the 29MM from the hospital’s coverage.

Umbrella liability policies cover other risks like homeowner’s and driver’s liability exposure.  You could theoretically shop through a broker for excess malpractice coverage, but it would be a waste of money as your employer is already effectively your excess.