Malpractice Insurance help (New Graduate)

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bad virus

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Thank you
 
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First, don't look for legal advice from the internet. To get a real answer, you need to talk with an attorney who works in the state where the hospital is located, because the governing laws can be different - sometimes very different - from one state to another.

With that said, the material you quoted doesn't say anything about whether you will require "tail coverage" after leaving this employer. The brief portion you provided that includes the term "tail coverage" almost certainly means that the hospital will not provide coverage for anything that happened before you started working for them. For them to do otherwise would be shocking. It doesn't say that you will require "tail coverage" after leaving them.

Everything else looks fairly standard and boilerplate. But most importantly, if you have questions, you need to talk to an attorney who is licensed to practice in that state. Even an attorney from another state can't give you a truly accurate answer.
 
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Don't be cheap on this, find an attorney who does this and hire them to walk you through it.

A couple of points, never ever take a job where your tail is not covered (or the policy needs to be an occurrence based policy not a claims made policy) - if this piece is not taken care of that is one of the very few deal breakers that mean you should walk away no matter what. The stuff you posted has to do with your prior job not your current job however.

The indemnification clause and more importantly the defense provision are really concerning. The defense provision means that they can settle a case against your will and that will be on your malpractice record forever. They will may do this in order to save money even if you clearly did nothing wrong if it will cost less to settle than defend, etc.
 
The defense provision means that they can settle a case against your will and that will be on your malpractice record forever. They will may do this in order to save money even if you clearly did nothing wrong if it will cost less to settle than defend, etc.

See the other thread on a recent residency grad being sued. NO ONE cares about your malpractice record when it comes to hiring or anything else in life. Settlements mean nothing. Everyone, from physicians to lawyers to healthcare administrators to the general public, knows that there is essentially no correlation between quality of care and being sued or settling a malpractice case. However, having too big of an ego and forcing a case to trial can cause you to end up with an above policy limit judgement which will come out of your pocket and can land you in bankruptcy.
 
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I wouldn't take a job without tail coverage. Not sure what area you're looking at, but I also wouldn't work at a job where I wasn't in demand (i.e. the "cool" places as opposed to the midwest or TX).
 
One thing to be aware of, if the employer is providing "tail coverage", make sure you are aware how much you are paying for that. Because, believe me, it is coming out of your compensation.

There are some places where it might not be a bad deal. I have also heard of places where having the employer provide "tail" could cost you several times the actual cost in salary every year.

Since this post is about a new residency grad, it might not be the worst thing to have the employer provide the coverage when you are starting out. However, later on, ask the malpractice carrier how much the coverage would be and then find out how much you are losing in salary for the hospital providing it. Like I said, I have heard through the grape-vine of places where physicians have lost enough in salary that after 3-4 months, it would have covered the entire amount of their tail coverage.
 
A couple of points, never ever take a job where your tail is not covered (or the policy needs to be an occurrence based policy not a claims made policy) - if this piece is not taken care of that is one of the very few deal breakers that mean you should walk away no matter what.

This.
 
A couple of points, never ever take a job where your tail is not covered (or the policy needs to be an occurrence based policy not a claims made policy) - if this piece is not taken care of that is one of the very few deal breakers that mean you should walk away no matter what. The stuff you posted has to do with your prior job not your current job however.

I don't think that's a never ever, but you need a plan for the tail if you decide to go. If I had followed that rule I wouldn't have my current job which you all keep calling a unicorn. The policy is occurrence now, but it wasn't back then. My pre-partner contract said if I chose to leave, I paid the tail. If they threw me out, they paid it. Seemed reasonably fair.
 
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