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I know this exists for a few state hospitals in FL but does anyone know where else I can find this? Anyone know of any health systems that offer this?
Sovereign immunity
- Thread starter Uranium678
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Having been thru a jackpot lawsuit myself, let me say this:
It doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter.
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Depends what exactly you're looking for. True sovereign immunity will generally be at a job where the government is directly employing you (VA hospital, IHS, civilian job at a military hospital, etc). There are some states that also offer this at their public/academic hospitals--Florida and South Carolina are some that come to mind. I think there are some other states that also offer this if you search around and others that offer extra protection for their public/academic employed docs (like very low ceiling on claim limits, ie Colorado I think?). If a hospital system is private but does tons of charity care the state my give their docs SI like in Florida.
SI isn't the only way to help protect yourself. Working for the right hospital or the right state can offer significant protection.
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Sorry you went through this man. Help me understand what you mean with "It doesn't matter."
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It sounds like the OP is seeking out sov.immunity as a way to insulate themselves from the dangers of med-mal lawsuits.
That's fine and well and good.
But really; there's no reason to be afraid of the big bad wolf.
My case settled for a large sum. All it did was waste my time.
I paid not a dime; nor should I have.
Sue me.
Big whoop.
Zzz.
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One of our docs used to practice in Florida. He said that the sovereign immunity only applied for teaching cases. If he saw the patient with a resident or student, then it was granted sovereign immunity. Haven't independently verified it, but I have no reason to distrust the guy.
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It would explain why HCA has started so many residencies in Florida
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What exactly is sovereign immunity?
It's basically saying that when you sue a physician who is employed by (usually) a governmental entity (VA, military, representative, state office etc etc) it's akin to suing that entire bureaucracy. It makes lawsuits much less likely to happen because very few people have time or resources to undertake that endeavor, payouts are capped, and the burden of proof is high.
In contrast, in the community, suing a physician often results in a settlement because "it's not worth defending".
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I work for a public hospital in SC, I'm not sure this is true
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I’ve never worked in SC but I was contacted about this job last year advertising SI. IIRC, the recruiter said it was a public shop:
CompHealth hiring Emergency Medicine in SC - Permanent: Emergency Physician - Sovereign Immunity plus high pay in South Carolina in Central, SC, US | LinkedIn
Posted 9 months ago. Emergency Medicine opening in Central, South Carolina. This and other physician jobs brought to you…See this and similar jobs on LinkedIn.
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I know that hospital, wife and I both interviewed their awhile back. The recruiter did not mention sovereign immunity. But, if they do have it but I need to investigate because my current hospital is in the same state and is also a publicly owned hospital...I’ve never worked in SC but I was contacted about this job last year advertising SI. IIRC, the recruiter said it was a public shop:
CompHealth hiring Emergency Medicine in SC - Permanent: Emergency Physician - Sovereign Immunity plus high pay in South Carolina in Central, SC, US | LinkedIn
Posted 9 months ago. Emergency Medicine opening in Central, South Carolina. This and other physician jobs brought to you…See this and similar jobs on LinkedIn.www.linkedin.com
Sovereign Immunity means that you cannot sue a state government or the federal government without their permission. It does not exist for other levels of government such as a city or a county. However, the important part is that the federal government and I believe every state government have passed laws waiving sovereign immunity for torts that could be committed by a citizen or a corporation. In other words, medical malpractice. At least for the federal government, those suits follow the same law as the state where the malpractice allegedly took place.
So the presence of sovereign immunity does not prohibit a malpractice suit, and those suits have to be reported to the NPDB as appropriate. There are basically only two real advantages when compared with normal malpractice insurance: First, you are not paying the premium (at least not directly, if you consider the reduced salary, you are.) Second, there is no possibility of an above policy limit judgement. That is it.
So the presence of sovereign immunity does not prohibit a malpractice suit, and those suits have to be reported to the NPDB as appropriate. There are basically only two real advantages when compared with normal malpractice insurance: First, you are not paying the premium (at least not directly, if you consider the reduced salary, you are.) Second, there is no possibility of an above policy limit judgement. That is it.
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A third advantage is that SI serves to deflect a ton of frivolous suits that would otherwise attract every ambo chaser looking for a fast and easy settlement.
A possible fourth advantage from what I’ve heard is that should the fed or state decide to settle or lose a case they also decide if there’s an actual reason to report a given doc to the NPDB since the doc isn’t being sued directly.
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Yes and no on the first. For the federal government, the first step in the process is that the patient has to file a claim with the federal government, then if the government denies the claim the patient can sue. The problem is that the form is available online and previously was easily available for patients to obtain. Since it was a form that took the patient only a few minutes to complete, we used to get tons of claims, "the smell when they burned off my wart caused me to be nauseous at lunch so I want $500." For a claim against the federal government it takes the lawyer only a very short time to file a claim which may be approved without even going to trial. So while it may reduce suits it definitely doesn't reduce claims.
On four, I am going off of memory since this came up recently on this site, and relying on my memory is dangerous, but I believe that discretion has recently been eliminated. If a claim has been paid there is mandatory reporting. If I remember correctly.
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Hmm interesting, didn’t know this.
Were/are you an attorney for the VA or mil health system?
Thanks for this helpful info.
Nope a retired military physician who ended up being the medical consultant having to review a lot of military malpractice claims a long time ago. And had the bad fortune of having my two college roommates end up being lawyers. At least one became a US Attorney and the other only did malpractice defense.
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In case you are wondering, this is what an SF-95 looks like: https://www.aoc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/TortFormSF95.pdf
So for basically filling in one page, you can see why people would take a "shot in the dark" for a little - or a lot - of money.
So for basically filling in one page, you can see why people would take a "shot in the dark" for a little - or a lot - of money.
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Just wanted to clarify some issues here. I am an attorney and formerly worked at a state institution covered by the SI. I AM NOT PROVIDING SPECIFIC LEGAL ADIVCE. For specific legal advice, please contact an attorney in your area.
Sovereign Immunity is a millennium-old legal precedent, which states that one cannot sue the monarch. In medieval times, there was no difference between the monarch and the government. With the emergence of the more modern nation-states, this doctrine has developed to the concept that one cannot sue the State – except as it consents to be sued.
The Federal Tort Claims Act covers tort actions (negligence) actions against the United States Government and its agents. There are other laws that pertain to non-tort actions against the federal government (such as the Tucker Act for contracts). As one of the previous posters noted, under the FTCA, a claimant must first file a notice of claim and give the government an opportunity to deal with that claim. Failure to comply with the claims procedure will result in forfeiture of that claim. If the claim is denied, then the claimant can sue in Federal Court, but the tort laws of the state where the claim arose will generally apply. Federally employed individuals are generally not allowed to be sued personally. In the event that a federal employee is sued for a tort, the United States Attorney for that district will have the court remove that person as a defendant and have the United States substituted for the individual. The employee must be acting within his or her scope of employment for this to apply. For example, an employee committing an intentional tort such as assault or one who commits negligence while under the influence of alcohol or drugs would likely NOT be substituted for. Also, civil rights violations are actionable against an individual under 42 USC 1983. This civil rights exception wasn’t considered important for physicians until recently when child abuse pediatricians have been sued successfully under this provision. Congress is considering fixing this interesting interpretation of civil rights law.
As the physician in a FTCA malpractice case is no longer a defendant, reporting to the National Practitioner Databank is not automatic, per se. Federal law provides that the agency employing the medical provider gets to determine whether or not he or she is reported to the NPDB. This authority ultimately lies with the Department Secretary (e.g the Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs), but each agency has its own internal administrative structure for dealing with NPDB reporting.
I should also note that the rules are different for military physicians because of the Feres Doctrine
States may have similar laws. I worked for a state university health system, which was covered by a state tort claims act. It worked very much like the FTCA. Interestingly, the statute authorizing the NPDB has no provision for state agencies. It was the opinion of our general counsel that in the absence of statutory or regulatory guidance that our institution would not report malpractice case losses or settlements against an individual provider to the NPDB. That was awesome.
-Ed
Sovereign Immunity is a millennium-old legal precedent, which states that one cannot sue the monarch. In medieval times, there was no difference between the monarch and the government. With the emergence of the more modern nation-states, this doctrine has developed to the concept that one cannot sue the State – except as it consents to be sued.
The Federal Tort Claims Act covers tort actions (negligence) actions against the United States Government and its agents. There are other laws that pertain to non-tort actions against the federal government (such as the Tucker Act for contracts). As one of the previous posters noted, under the FTCA, a claimant must first file a notice of claim and give the government an opportunity to deal with that claim. Failure to comply with the claims procedure will result in forfeiture of that claim. If the claim is denied, then the claimant can sue in Federal Court, but the tort laws of the state where the claim arose will generally apply. Federally employed individuals are generally not allowed to be sued personally. In the event that a federal employee is sued for a tort, the United States Attorney for that district will have the court remove that person as a defendant and have the United States substituted for the individual. The employee must be acting within his or her scope of employment for this to apply. For example, an employee committing an intentional tort such as assault or one who commits negligence while under the influence of alcohol or drugs would likely NOT be substituted for. Also, civil rights violations are actionable against an individual under 42 USC 1983. This civil rights exception wasn’t considered important for physicians until recently when child abuse pediatricians have been sued successfully under this provision. Congress is considering fixing this interesting interpretation of civil rights law.
As the physician in a FTCA malpractice case is no longer a defendant, reporting to the National Practitioner Databank is not automatic, per se. Federal law provides that the agency employing the medical provider gets to determine whether or not he or she is reported to the NPDB. This authority ultimately lies with the Department Secretary (e.g the Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs), but each agency has its own internal administrative structure for dealing with NPDB reporting.
I should also note that the rules are different for military physicians because of the Feres Doctrine
States may have similar laws. I worked for a state university health system, which was covered by a state tort claims act. It worked very much like the FTCA. Interestingly, the statute authorizing the NPDB has no provision for state agencies. It was the opinion of our general counsel that in the absence of statutory or regulatory guidance that our institution would not report malpractice case losses or settlements against an individual provider to the NPDB. That was awesome.
-Ed
It matters if your case is one of the very few that goes above your medmal limits. Matters a lot, although that's rare, and in some states impossible.
