Physicians are human, and even the smartest and most qualified professionals can make a mistake. Any physician can be sued for negligence or malpractice at any time whether or not they have actually made a mistake. 

Defending a malpractice suit is expensive, even if you win. Defense costs will include attorney and expert witness fees, payment of damages if you lose, and other expenses. Providers often win malpractice cases, but the expenses they incurred to defend the case will likely be unrecoverable. 

Medical malpractice insurance is not mandatory for doctors in South Carolina, but it’s in the best interest of most doctors to purchase it in order to protect themselves from the devastating costs of malpractice claims. 

What Is Doctor Malpractice Insurance?

Doctor malpractice insurance is more commonly known as medical malpractice insurance. 

Any mistake or oversight that negatively impacts a patient can result in a malpractice claim or a lawsuit. Typical malpractice allegations include misdiagnosis, surgical and medication errors, childbirth-related injuries, and other negligence or claims of wrongdoing. Defending a malpractice suit is expensive, even if you win. Your defense costs might include attorney fees, court costs, expert witness fees, and any settlements or judgments you must pay to an injured person. 

Medical malpractice insurance is essential for protecting the livelihood of any practicing physician as well as other healthcare providers. It is a type of errors and omissions insurance (or professional liability insurance) that protects physicians and other healthcare professionals against claims alleging that their negligent acts have caused injury to patients. 

Providers often win malpractice cases, but the costs of defending the case are almost always unrecoverable. Medical malpractice insurance protects your healthcare practice from the costs of malpractice claims and lawsuits.

What Does Doctor Malpractice Insurance Cover in South Carolina?

Doctor malpractice insurance in South Carolina covers costs related to medical malpractice claims and lawsuits. It helps healthcare providers cover defense fees, expert witness costs, legal fees, and financial settlement costs. 

Different types of medical professionals have different types of risks that need to be covered by their malpractice insurance. You will need to work closely with your insurance agent to make sure your policy fits the needs of your practice and your specialty. 

In general, medical malpractice insurance covers you for liability claims arising from careless or intentionally harmful treatment.

South Carolina does not require physicians to have professional liability coverage, but you will likely need it in order to get privileges to see patients at a hospital. 

Doctor malpractice insurance can be purchased from a commercial insurance company or a physician-owned company. Providers often obtain coverage through their group practice or corporate entity. It needs to cover the physician, the entity (corporation, LLC, partnership, etc.), and any employees.

Medical malpractice insurance can be purchased for dollar limits that are appropriate for your practice. Most policies specify:

• An individual limit (the most that will be paid for any one claim) 
• An aggregate limit (the most that will be paid in any policy year for all claims)

If your policy has limits of $1,000,000/$3,000,000, this means it will pay a maximum of $1 million per claim and $3 million for all claims during a policy term. 

There are two types of medical professional liability policies: claims-made policies and occurrence policies. Both types of policies are very complex. You need to know how each one works and pays claims, and then purchase the one that works best for your specialty and unique needs. 

• Claims-made policies: This distinction means that claims must be made within the policy period. Stated simply, your medical malpractice policy must be active when the incident occurs, and when the claim is made. These policies include a retroactive date to allow for incidents that occurred before the policy was in force to be reported after the policy is in force — with claims occurring before the retroactive date not covered. 

How your policy handles claims that occur before the policy is in force is extremely important for you to understand. While most malpractice insurance today is purchased on a claims-made basis, occurrence policies are also available. 

• Occurrence policies: This means that the act, error, or omission must occur during the policy period and the claim can be made anytime thereafter, even after the policy has been canceled. 

Most healthcare professionals purchase and keep the same malpractice insurance for the life of their practice. If you cancel and move to another carrier, you could have gaps in coverage. A new claims-made policy, for example, would leave you without coverage for any incidents that occurred before the policy was in force. For that reason, tail coverage and prior acts coverage is available. 

• Tail coverage: This allows claims to be made after a policy has been terminated if the incidents occurred while the policy was in force.
• Prior acts coverage: This protects you for acts that have occurred but have not yet been reported.

What Does Doctor Malpractice Insurance Not Cover in South Carolina?

Medical malpractice insurance does not cover every potential medical mistake, particularly when the mistakes are made due to the physician’s reckless, intentional, or illegal behavior. 

Some of the most common coverage exclusions in medical malpractice policies include the following:

• Reckless and intentional acts
• Dishonest, fraudulent, criminal, or Illegal acts
• Sexual misconduct
• Hospital administrative errors (e.g., hospital policies that lead to medical errors)
• Acts committed while under the influence of drugs or alcohol

Misrepresentations on the provider’s application for malpractice insurance (e.g., misstated qualifications, omissions of past malpractice lawsuits) can also lead to denied malpractice coverage, even rendering the entire policy void in some cases. 

What Are the Benefits of Doctor Malpractice Insurance in South Carolina?

Doctors in South Carolina are not required by federal or state law to carry medical malpractice insurance. But many hospitals require physicians to obtain malpractice insurance in order to be granted privileges. And some health insurance plans require doctors who participate in their networks to have malpractice insurance. 

Doctor malpractice insurance makes sense for many other reasons too. Doctors who choose to go without it place themselves at great professional and financial peril. While it is typically very costly, tort reform in South Carolina has stabilized the cost of medical malpractice insurance.  

According to a survey by the American Medical Association, more than 65 percent of doctors over the age of 55 say they’ve been sued at least once. The longer a physician practices, the more likely he or she is to be sued at some point. Even though most malpractice claims are dismissed, dropped, or won by the physician, just the initial defense costs can exceed $100,000. 

So why purchase doctor malpractice insurance? It offers numerous benefits to physicians of all ages and specialties, including the following: 

• Avoid financial ruin
• Supplement insufficient coverage provided by hospitals or employers
• Having your own policy provides coverage for no matter where you work, even if you move to a new practice, hospital, or group
• Ability to pay for defense costs even when a claim is eventually dropped or dismissed
• Protect your personal assets
• Cover lost wages that are a result of the lawsuit (e.g., due to court time, time spent in lawyer’s office, etc.)

Can I Afford Doctor Malpractice Insurance in South Carolina?

Medical malpractice insurance does not work like auto insurance, which is “experience rated,” meaning premiums are based on the insured person’s driving experience. Malpractice premiums are based on the physician’s specialty and geographic location.

Even if a physician has never been sued, he or she might pay extremely high premiums if the specialty requires high coverage limits or has high claims severity and frequency. The location of the practice and laws in the area also have an impact on malpractice insurance premiums. 

In South Carolina, medical malpractice insurance premiums are considered to be moderate and stable due to the presence of a large number of carriers in the state and a variety of tort reforms designed to minimize the size of verdicts. 

Do I Need an Agent to Purchase Doctor Malpractice Insurance in South Carolina?

It’s important for South Carolina healthcare providers to select a financially strong medical malpractice insurance company that will be around for the life of their practice. An insurance company’s financial rating is an effective predictor of its strength and longevity.   

Medical malpractice insurance is very important for all healthcare providers, and also very complicated with a lot of variations. Doctors in South Carolina need to understand their policy and the implications of making changes to it over time. It’s best to talk to an independent agent to who can help you compare policies and companies, read and understand the terms, and make an informed decision. 

An independent agent can help you find the right policy and can help you assess your options.