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Professional Education
Loss Lessons: Practicing Out of Bounds
Unlicensed staff are vital to efficient patient flow in medical practice. Healthcare organizations have many tasks that are safely and effectively carried out by skilled unlicensed support staff every day. To reach such efficiencies with safety and reliability, careful attention must be given to scope of practice and state and local statutes regarding delegation and supervision. Policies and protocols that outline the scope of practice for unlicensed staff to follow independently, and when they must consult with licensed staff, help even the most talented of your staff understand their boundaries. This case illustrates how informal verbal guidelines can blur the lines and cause well-meaning staff to cross the boundary lines of their scope leading to misdiagnosis and death.

Video Jul 29, 2024
Why Do Large Verdicts Influence the 1% of Cases We Lose and How Does This Effect MPL Rates?
In 2010, there were 18 nuclear verdicts totaling $10 million or more in the United States. By the end of 2023, there were 58 of these large verdicts, meaning there was at least one nuclear verdict occurring every week across the U.S. The bad news? 2024 is on pace to equal or surpass what transpired in 2023. Robert White, President of The Doctors Company and TDC Group, discusses how large verdicts are creating a domino effect on medical professional liability rates.

Agreements
The Doctors Company legal agreements.

May 01, 2024, AM Best
AM Best’s Briefing - Medical Professional Liability Sector: The State of the U.S. Market
Robert E. White, President of The Doctors Company and TDC Group, joins Sharon Pereira Marks, Director, P&C Ratings, AM Best; Victoria Riggs, MBA, Associate Director, AM Best; Eric Anderson, Interim President and CEO, the Medical Professional Liability Association; and Megan McIntyre, Head of TransRe’s Medical Malpractice team, in reviewing the state of the U.S. medical professional liability insurance sector.

Professional Education
Failure to Rescue a Recurring Post-Surgical Event (Claims Corner CME)
Claims arising from the perioperative experience are frequent, often preventable, and some of the costliest claims for physicians. One study of surgical claims conducted by The Doctors Company noted that about two out of three general surgeons have been involved in a medical malpractice suit.  Malpractice data consistently finds that the most serious and common post-operative complications are unrecognized intestinal puncture or perforation. Diagnostic error by surgeons involving unrecognized intestinal puncture or perforation of an organ can quickly lead to septic shock and death.

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