Medical Liability: Overview

Hospitals, doctors and certain other health professionals purchase medical liability insurance that pays up to the policy limits for damages to a patient caused by malpractice. The medical community has become concerned as jury awards and subsequently liability insurance premiums have increased, at times drastically, in certain areas of the country.  

In some states, the number of medical liability insurance companies exiting the market has become a cause for concern. And as professional liability premiums have gone up, physicians are increasingly faced with hard choices, such as retiring early or moving to states with more rational medical liability insurance markets.  

As a whole, Ohio medical care providers experience higher liability insurance premiums than in many other states. These facts have earned Ohio the unfortunate distinction of being among 20 states currently deemed by the American Medical Association to be in a full-blown medical liability crisis. And in Northeast Ohio, hospitals and physicians pay higher professional liability insurance premiums than anywhere else in the state.

Last Updated: May 2005