Medical Malpractice Coverage: Trouble For Some New York Hospitals

The St. Louis medical malpractice lawyers at the Zevan and Davidson Law Firm have represented a wide variety of medical negligence victims in St. Louis, Missouri and Illinois.

Everyone has to pay a price for their mistakes. It seems though, that certain New York Hospitals have fallen short of money to pay in case of lawsuits. In a surprising revelation, state records have shown that many of the hospitals in the metropolis are uninsured for malpractice.

This can have serious consequences on the future of many of these hospitals. Though a few still have money left on their malpractice reserves a good number of them have run out of money. This potentially means that these hospitals would be out of any money to give in case of future settlements and the settlement or award money could only come at the expense of the patient’s care. The story doesn’t end here. One of the hospitals has actually closed down their obstetric practice, fearing potential lawsuits.

This has many serious implications on the future of these hospitals. In reality, most of these hospitals blame the poor economic scenario, their own financial circumstances as well as high premiums as reasons for not being able to pay the millions of dollars as insurance.

Though New York hospitals do not require any malpractice insurance to be able to run, many of these uninsured hospitals are the ones suffering from some big judgments by the juries there.

It would be improbable to assume that malpractices have weeded out from the functioning of these uninsured hospitals. Medical malpractice exist in nearly every hospital and what adds to the woes of patients is the fact that hospitals in New York are not entitled to disclose whether they invest in malpractice coverage or not.

The condition of the hospitals first came into forefront in 2009, when the state Health Department carried out a survey of the hospitals which claimed to be self insured. It found out that only three of the hospitals were completely insured. Twelve other hospitals surveyed were only partially insured.

In the absence of malpractice insurance, hospitals use different methods to store money for paying in case of lawsuits. What is alarming is that most hospitals which had malpractice insurance money, even some years back, have actually dwindled to almost nothing.

The trend has forced many insurance companies to move out of New York and has resulted in millions of dollars of liability which is not funded. Hospitals on the other hand, refuse to pay the high rate of insurance needed for malpractice funds.

St. Louis Medical Malpractice Attorneys

In a report from the Institute of Medicine, “To Err Is Human,” it was estimated between 44,000 and 98,000 deaths each year in the United States are the result of medical malpractice errors.

The St. Louis medical malpractice lawyers at the Zevan and Davidson Law Firm have represented a wide variety of medical negligence victims in St. Louis, Missouri and Illinois. If you believe that you or someone you love has a medical malpractice case, contact the St. Louis medical malpractice lawyers at Zevan and Davidson today to schedule a free consultation by calling (314) 588-7200 or by filling out our online contact form.

photo credit: Fotos Gov/Ba