Protection plans that shield physicians’ financial assets from an excess malpractice verdict are worth the money
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ACEP Now: Vol 33 – No 04 – April 2014This is in response to the pro-con debate on asset protection (“Afraid of Getting Sued and Losing Everything? Well, Just Hide Your Money! Or Not!” February ACEP Now).
First of all, thanks to Drs. Frank and Segan for an interesting pro-con feature on a subject that is on almost every ED physician’s mind to some degree.
I would like to respond to Dr. Frank’s viewpoint. I have known a physician who lost his house and many of his assets due to an excess malpractice verdict. He was an obstetrician, and they historically have huge liability risks, but this did ruin him financially and emotionally, not to mention what this did to his family.
Second, I think Dr. Frank makes the case for good asset protection. He states (and I summarize) that most plaintiff attorneys will not be interested in going after the personal assets of a physician because (as in example 1, where the verdict was $5 million and the physician had $1 million in coverage) “the chances of getting $4 million (or anything close to that) from most physicians are slim to none.” What I take from this is that the chances are truly “slim to none” of taking some or all of the physician’s assets if the physician has engaged in an effective, reasonable asset-protection plan. I bet the plaintiff attorney would not be so merciful if, as with physician B in Dr. Segan’s example, the physician had his assets in unprotected, easily confiscatable forms.
Third, one issue that is not addressed by Dr. Frank is the dread and anxiety one faces when served with those awful papers. The amount of anxiety and stress that accompany a lawsuit is underappreciated and often makes physicians question the career they chose. Even with the fact that most physicians prevail, there is always the chance (even with excellent medical care) that you will be the unlucky one who has a jury who forgets the facts and sides with the perceived victim.
Having a good asset-protection plan, which may be expensive, is worth the money. Most things of value are, even if it is to protect you from the chance, albeit small, that you are the one who has “had [your] assets taken away by an excess verdict.” The peace of mind that comes from protection against the sometimes illogical and unjust whims of the legal system is something that most physicians would find worth having.
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One Response to “Good Asset-Protection Plans Expensive, but Essential for Emergency Physicians”
May 4, 2014
lbandrewI agree with Dr. Frank in his April article that verdicts in excess of judgement are fairly rare and that plaintiffs are unlikely to pursue them beyond a bit of posturing. However, I agree with Dr. Segan and Dr. Spontak that anyone living in the US in this day and age is somewhat naive if all of their assets are completely unprotected from creditors, and not only malpractice awardees.
Dr. Segan in his October and February articles recommended some very basic free steps that can be taken to obtain some measure of asset protection, and they are well worth the time involved to seek them out. We have enough anxieties already related to the practice of EM and the risk of litigation with its myriad of physical and emotional stressors. Why not reduce those that we can easily obtain? And if our assets are not well protected where we live, it may be money better spent obtaining a formal asset protection plan from a professional than to consider uprooting entire families and moving to a less litigious state or country, or one with more protections already in place.