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Florida Doctors With No Insurance Leave Patients Vulnerable

By Eddie Farah

When you go to the doctor you make an assumption - that they have a license, they are a professional, that they went to medical school and have additional experience in a specialty.

Maybe you assume they have malpractice insurance, just in case something goes wrong. After all doctors do make about one million medical errors a year.

However as the old adage goes, never assume.

The Sun-Sentinel newspaper investigated a Florida physician database and finds that one-third of the physicians in Miami do not have insurance, and nearly one out of four doctors in Broward and Palm Beach counties are going without. It's the highest uninsured doctor rates in the country. Many are being encouraged to opt out by financial advisers who say the doctors will then become a less likely target of trial attorneys.

But what about the patients? Let's say the doctor cuts off the wrong leg, or leaves a sponge in your. Perhaps he doesn't read the latest on a controversial drug that's about to be taken off the market. The damage is bad enough, but without coverage, you are essentially being harmed twice. You can lose the ability to work, an income, and have mounting medical bills that you must cover if the doctor elects to go uncovered.

Most lawyers will tell you to forget filing a lawsuit, there is no insurance from which to collect.

Essentially you are walking a tight-rope without a safety net if you choose one of these doctors.

This is nothing new. For decades doctors in Florida have been able to go without medical malpractice coverage. Doctors must alert customers by posting a sign in their office. And they must promise to pay up to $250,000 if a patient receives a malpractice award, and the doctor does not opt to go bankrupt to avoid a large judgment, which is his option. One can very quickly amass a medical bill of $250,000, following a serious medical injury.

Chiropractor and Florida State Senator Dennis Jones, R- Seminole is trying to require doctors to have coverage. He points out that you need insurance to drive a cab, but not to do brain surgery? BTW- chiropractors, midwives, some nurses and optometrists must still carry coverage.

The state allowed doctors to opt out of coverage years ago to combat the high cost of malpractice premiums that can easily run into the mid five and even six-figure range for a specialty. Five years ago, the state legislature tried to protect doctors further by limiting a pain-and-suffering award to $500,000 or up to $1 million if a medical error results in death.

Doctors were granted that protection at the same time insurance companies were allowed to charge exorbitant premiums and make record profits of 20 percent in 2006. Did anyone think of asking insurance companies to lower their premiums for doctors? Consumers are the losers here.

Please don't fail to ask your doctor if he or she has medical malpractice insurance- Never assume!

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Eddie Farah

Full post as published by Jacksonville Personal Injury Lawyer on July 30, 2008 (boomark / email).