Medical Malpractice Insurance

Medical malpractice insurance protects physicians against lawsuits by patients for treatment or surgery. In 2007, it was reported that the average internist pays $74,855 per year and the average general surgeons pays $299,420 per year in medical malpractice insurance.^[1]

States that require medical malpractice insurance for licensure are:^[2]

• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Georgia (for optometrists who use drugs)
• Kansas
• Massachusetts
• New Jersey
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• Wisconsin

Florida requires physicians to prove that they can pay a $250,000 award. New Jersey has no statutory requirement, but the Board of Medical Examiners insists on coverage of $1 million per case and $3 million per year. Ohio lacks a statutory requirement, but imposes an administrative rule mandating that any physician lacking malpractice insurance must have signed consent by all non-emergency patients agreeing to treatment by a physician who lacks malpractice insurance.

States that require medical malpractice insurance in order for a physician to benefit from an awards caps are:

• Indiana
• Louisiana
• Nebraska
• Nevada (this state does not appear on some lists)
• New Mexico
• New York (this state does not appear on some lists)
• Wyoming

States that require medical malpractice insurance as a condition of holding hospital privileges:

• Missouri

References[edit]