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The /doctor/ is ruined? The insurance company would have to pay. Would a doctor become uninsurable because of insurance company lawyer ineptitude (if indeed t
by clavalle 13y ago
The /doctor/ is ruined? The insurance company would have to pay. Would a doctor become uninsurable because of insurance company lawyer ineptitude (if indeed they are forced into an expensive settlement for a small mistake)?
Have there been huge settlements? Sure. But those settlements are usually punitive and serve as a deterrent to bad behavior for hospitals that can make hundreds of millions in profit a year. A $500K slap on the wrist would carry the same weight as a $150 traffic ticket to a member of the middle class...annoying but forgettable. Now $10m? $20m? Suddenly everyone from the Chairman on down takes an interest in preventing whatever went wrong.
- talmand 13y agoDo you think the insurance company would blame the lawyer or the doctor in that case? I may not think straight but I'm willing to bet they would blame the doctor and increase the premiums. If a doctor's premiums become large enough then he is in effect uninsurable. If that doctor still has educational debt to pay? Ruined. Except those costs that hospitals incur are often passed down to other people to pay. Hospitals are not always the money-printing machine you seem to think they are. Well, some are I suppose. Of course, those increased fees by the hospital is often covered by medical insurance, which now has to increase premiums across the board to cover the increases.
- clavalle 13y ago>Of course, those increased fees by the hospital is often covered by medical insurance, Insurance carriers have a lot of pull to decide how much they are willing to pay. They don't just blindly accept whatever numbers a hospital gives them. Those settlements come straight from the bottom line and are not simple to recoup.