Related content: The most common types of medical malpractice complaints doctors need to know
Even if you are innocent of any wrongdoing, a medical negligence claim can still cost a lot of money for the doctor accused, in the form of legal fees.
The upside is that these court proceedings are not adversarial in nature; rather they are investigative. Nobody is trying to assign blame to you. But whatever the outcome, you will still incur costs just by defending yourself.
The hearings themselves tend to take place in major city centres, such as Auckland or Wellington. That’s great if you live near these areas, but if you are a rural doctor or simply live further out in the regions, actual travel expenses can start to rack up---particularly if your case takes longer than usual and you have to travel multiple times.
On a similar note, if a medical complaint arises from when you were working in locum or even while you were performing charity work overseas, you may find that you need to travel even further to attend the enquiry.
Being a doctor is a calling, but it’s also a job, and missing work can mean no pay. Medical complaints can take weeks or months to conclude fully, time during which you may be unable to work because of the nature of the complaint or simply because you need to be at a hearing.
Medical complaints can take weeks or months to conclude fully.
This can put a big dent in your finances - almost as large as the fines imposed at the end of the proceedings.
The most obvious cost, and often the most concerning, are any fines or compensation you are required to pay after being found guilty of a particular offence. This can range from a few hundred to thousands of dollars, depending on the incident and the severity of the malpractice.
The actual range of fines associated with malpractice is large: one medical malpractice claim in 2017 fined a doctor $20,000 for failing to review a patient correctly, while another in 2001 was fined $3,000 following the death of a patient.
All up, a medical malpractice claim can cost a doctor tens of thousands of dollars at worst and thousands of dollars at best, either in direct costs or due to loss of income. Thankfully, medical indemnity insurance pays for most if not all of these costs---but only if you have the right cover from the right insurer.
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