- Left Out: The failure of a hospital chain that provided its own malpractice insurance threatens to leave injured patients with no recourse.
- Absent Oversight: States give little scrutiny to “self-insuring” health care companies. Agency officials say laws allow them to dodge normal safeguards.
- Physician, Pay for Thyself: Doctors promised malpractice insurance have discovered they have no coverage for defense expenses and claims. One met with a bankruptcy lawyer.
Sounds like the Directors’ malfeasance should put them on the hook PERSONALLY.
Those doctors should move to Texas, where the govenor Greg Abbot, had a tree fall on him, sued, and won $15,000 per month for life, with cost of living adjustments. He’s gotten over $5M from that suit alone. Then he turned around and set a cap on medical malpractice suit payouts to $250k, less than the attorney fees in maybe most cases. No need for Doctors to worry about these lawsuits in Texas! Home of Dr. Death. Get your medical license then maim and kill as much as you want.
Expect a lot more things like this to come out in all industries as the economy worsens. A thriving economy can hide a lot of financially problematic issues, in the same way a high tide can hide the rocks. As the economic tide recedes, all the ugly things below are revealed. This specific example involves the collapse of Prospect Medical, a for-profit hospital chain plundered by private equity. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Self insurance is also ridiculously common, so get ready to find a lot of defunct insurance when places start going bankrupt that were once seen as large entities.
Smart move, lower operation costs.
