A Connecticut gynecologist was malpractice-insured for $1 million. But his settlement was for $5 million. So the lawyers took all of his stuff. How’s your insurance?
Per a
report in the Connecticut State Medical Society newsletter reproduced in
Surgery Watch, Dr. Orlito Trias was sued in 2010 because he allegedly “did not ‘strongly advise’” an oophorectomy to a fibroid-tumor patient who later developed ovarian cancer.
A court ruled against Trias, and he had to cough up $5 million. But his malpractice insurance was for only $1 million. The newsletter says he “asked his liability insurer” – unfortunately, not named in the article – “to settle this claim within his policy limits. His liability insurer refused.” So in May, the plaintiff’s lawyers “executed on the judgment and, with no notice, seized Dr. Trias’ personal and business bank accounts and placed a lien on his real property.”
The Society’s newsletter states the lesson here is that M.D.s should “meet with an experienced asset-protection planner to ensure that your assets are adequately protected from seizure and attachment.” But the retired surgeon/blogger
Skeptical Scalpel asks: “Is an asset protection trust a viable option for most doctors? I wonder how many have set up one. An even more important lesson may be that a $1 million malpractice insurance policy limit may be inadequate for some specialties.”
Financial planning is just one of the many practice issues we discuss in the pages of DecisionHealth’s physician practice newsletter,
Part B News.