Common New York Allied Healthcare Liability Exposures

Posted on: December 19, 2014 by Huntersure

Common New York Allied Healthcare Liability Exposures  

The allied healthcare industry is comprised of many different sectors, types of facilities and professionals, all of which face unique loss and liability exposures through the course of their operation. Regardless of your clients’ specialty, professionalism, training and experience, if they are a healthcare provider or healthcare industry member, there is chance they could face legal complications throughout the course of their career for their professional conduct, mistakes or misconduct.

Medical malpractice and professional error law suits are increasingly common in the America, as such it is important for your clients to not only understand their professional liability risk exposures, but to protect against them. Here are a few common liability exposures that many healthcare providers face:

  • Misdiagnosis or Delayed Diagnosis- Sometimes it isn’t easy diagnosing a patient and sometimes it can take a while for physicians to fully understand what’s going on. When a doctor misdiagnoses a condition, or fails to diagnose a serious disease there is a chance that a patient may miss out on crucial treatment opportunities. As such, should that patient’s condition worsen or end fatally, there is a chance that the advising physician could find themselves faced with a legal battle for wrongful death, malpractice and a number of other allegations. Similarly the same can occur with mistreatment or failure to treat a known or existing condition.
  • Surgical Errors- We hear horror stories of surgeries gone wrong where the practitioner mistakenly amputates the wrong limb or removes a fully functional kidney leaving the damaged one still intact, and while those cases are relatively rare surgical errors do pose a number of liability concerns for the healthcare provider. Surgeon, nurses anesthesiologists and a number of other personnel can be accused of negligence before, during and after the procedure itself even when administrating post-op care. Anesthetic mistakes can be some of the most dangerous for patients and healthcare providers. Even a small miscalculation or misstep by an anesthesiologist can result in permanent injury, brain damage, or even death.
  • Medication Errors- According to the Institute of Medicine, medication errors harm approximately 1.5 million people in the United States each year. These types of errors can occur in a variety of ways from prescription errors to the administration of medication and other pharmaceuticals.

When it comes to protecting your clients from the financial burdens that accompany a medical care error or mishap, it is vital the right professional liability coverage is secured. At Huntersure LLC  we are a full-service Managing General Agency that specializes in insurance program administration for professional liability products. We take great pride in securing flexible and complete New York Professional Liability Insurance solutions to those high risk industries such as medical carelegal counsel, or financial advising, that are especially prone to professional liability claims. For more information about our products and how we can help you secure the protection your clients need, contact us today.

Posted in: blog Healthcare Professional Liability