PROTECTING THE INSURED PHYSICIAN

Want to watch your insurance company appointed defense attorney squirm? Ask what happens if both you and he/she want to settle your case within policy limits but the insurance company doesn’t. Florida State 627.4147(1)(b)(1) may have taken that right away from you. 

If so, your defense attorney can’t make the insurance company settle and neither can you. You would likely be told that a “conflict” has arisen and that you will need to hire your own attorney, generally at your own expense. The insurance company, not your defense attorney, would completely controls settlement decisions. Physicians can and have been exposed to excess judgments when their insurance carrier refused to settle a case within policy limits. The only way for the physician to make the insurance company pay the excess is to prevail in a separate lawsuit against the insurance company known as a “Bad Faith” lawsuit. To do so, the physician bears the burden of proof that the insurance company could and should have settled the case within policy limits if it had acted in the best interests of the physician (rather than its own best interests).

The Medical Malpractice Triage Service was designed from the ground up to act exclusively in the best interests of the physician. The Service assists the physician from the very 1st day, when the Notice of Intent is received. The goal is to eliminate the mistakes insured physicians often make when sued for malpractice and to minimize the physician’s personal exposure. This is accomplished by the physician contacting Dr. Morgan directly via a “Hot Line” when a Notice of Intent is received. Dr. Morgan personally advises the physician as to what he should immediately do and NOT do. Dr. Morgan then personally reviews the case, consulting with a highly qualified subspecialty expert as needed. Dr. Morgan then objectively assesses whether the physician has breached the prevailing professional standard of care, and if so, what the probable damages would be under current Florida law and the facts of that particular case. A formal written evaluation is sent directly to the physician and thereby communicated to the defense attorney and malpractice insurance carrier. The evaluation includes specific documentation regarding standard of care issues, causation and damages. It also identifies likely arguments that will be made by the plaintiff’s attorney and defenses to them. Specific dollar amount settlement recommendations are made if settlement is warranted.

The Medical Malpractice Triage Service is focused on the objective truth. If there is a real exposure to the insured physician, the defense attorney and insurance company are put on notice very early in the case. This allows the case to be resolved within policy limits with no personal exposure to the physician. It also avoids the physician getting a “strike” under Amendment 8 if the case is tried and lost. If the insurance company refuses to settle within policy limits despite a Triage evaluation recommending otherwise, the physician is fully prepared to prevail in the event a “Bad Faith” lawsuit is required to force the insurance company, not the physician, to pay any excess judgment. You pay a great deal of money for your malpractice insurance. The Medical Malpractice Triage Service is inexpensive “insurance on your insurance”.