Malpractice insurance crisis. .Marcus MB: Healthcare's 'perfect storm'. US News & World Report July 1, 2002, pp 39-40 Rising cost of malpractice insurance Noun 1. malpractice insurance - insurance purchased by physicians and hospitals to cover the cost of being sued for malpractice; "obstetricians have to pay high rates for malpractice insurance" is causing some US physicians to curtail cur·tail tr.v. cur·tailed, cur·tail·ing, cur·tails To cut short or reduce. See Synonyms at shorten. [Middle English curtailen, to restrict their practices, move to states with lower insurance rates, or shut down their offices. This country's largest medical malpractice Improper, unskilled, or negligent treatment of a patient by a physician, dentist, nurse, pharmacist, or other health care professional. insurer An individual or company who, through a contractual agreement, undertakes to compensate specified losses, liability, or damages incurred by another individual. An insurer is frequently an insurance company and is also known as an underwriter. canceled thousands of physicians at the end of 2001, and other insurers are increasing their premiums. Specialists in emergency medicine are particularly vulnerable because they treat patients who are the sickest, highest-risk, most likely to sue, and most likely to be uninsured. These physicians are becoming more reluctant to accept ER call, and some ER patients must be transported long distances for treatment. Physicians hope the shortages will result in setting limits on jury awards; the average malpractice malpractice, failure to provide professional services with the skill usually exhibited by responsible and careful members of the profession, resulting in injury, loss, or damage to the party contracting those services. payment increased from $1.95 million to $3.5 million from 1993 to 1999. The legal profession blames increasing numbers of medical errors for escalating insurance costs. |
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