General Liability vs. Medical Liability
We frequently have physicians and practice managers calling us to tell us that they have been served with a lawsuit and need to know what to do next. Our first question is usually, “Is it a general liability lawsuit or a medical malpractice lawsuit?” Many of our clients are confused by this question and we explain the difference. And, that is what we will do here today.
Medical malpractice insurance covers your medical (AKA professional) liability. It covers you for the professional services you render.
General liability insurance covers you for almost everything else.
Most people are familiar with medical malpractice (or professional) liability lawsuits: medial errors, failure to diagnose, etc. Examples of general liability lawsuits include things like slips and falls in the office, a water cooler falling on a patient, etc.
The good news is that a claim on one type of insurance generally doesn’t affect the cost of the other insurance.
For most of our clients the difference doesn’t matter too much because, often, they have both their general liability and medical malpractice insurance with us.
