Around the country, teaching hospitals offer some of the best care available. With licensed physicians supervising physicians-in-training, mistakes are generally rare. But if a mistake did occur, could a student face malpractice? It depends.
Medical malpractice is a possibility when a serious mistake occurs, but in order for a claim to have standing, four criteria must be met:
1. The caregiver must owe a professional duty of care to a patient.
2. The caregiver must fail to deliver the proper standard of care.
3. The patient must suffer an injury as a direct result of the caregiver’s failure.
4. The patient must experience harm for which the caregiver can compensate them.
In most cases, the supervising physician is held liable for medical mistakes made on behalf of their students.
However, students may still be named in a lawsuit and have to hire an attorney. Because of this risk, many teaching hospitals and clinics now require medical students to obtain their own medical malpractice insurance.
Doctors and students have different needs, so malpractice insurance for doctors-in-training works differently, too. Lockton Affinity partnered with AMSA to develop the Academic Medical Professional Insurance Program (AMPI) just for doctors-in-training.
AMPI offers affordable short-term coverage, administered by Lockton Affinity, to students participating in clinical electives, rotations and observations. Customizable short-term options from two weeks to two months are available, with policy limits of $1 million per occurrence and $3 million aggregate, the standard requirement for medical students.
This worldwide coverage starts as low as $230 per month, with occurrence coverage that protects students from claims occurring both during the policy period and after a rotation has ended.
Additionally, AMSA members can receive a preferred rate of 10% off AMPI standard policy pricing.
To learn more, visit AMPIMedMal.com.
DISCLAIMER: The following information is being sent to AMSA members on behalf of Lockton Affinity, LLC, a licensed insurance producer. Any recommendation or advice provided is based upon the opinion of Lockton Affinity, LLC and not AMSA.
