Protecting Against Nuclear Verdicts in Healthcare

The useful part

Healthcare risk managers face increasing challenges in purchasing an insurance tower sufficient to withstand a nuclear verdict. Filling the tower can be difficult as insurers assess their willingness to bear nuclear verdict risk, and existing insurance towers may not provide adequate coverage in this new environment. Stress testing your organization's current insurance program, including limits, retentions, and deductibles, and benchmarking now will help assess your organization's exposure.

How it works

• Reviewing available coverage for punitive and exemplary damages will help avoid unpleasant surprises.
• Scrutinizing certain key policy terms and negotiating better terms can reduce your organization's potential exposure to a nuclear verdict.
• Finally, educating your legal department and outside defense counsel will help to avoid disputes with your insurers when developing legal strategy.
• Nuclear Verdicts Are on the Rise A "nuclear verdict" — generally a jury award of $10 million or more — used to be a rare event in healthcare litigation.
• "Thermonuclear" verdicts — those exceeding $100 million — are now a regular event.

What to take from it

Industry-wide, hospital and physician professional liability benchmarking now tracks well over $30 billion in incurred losses. Examples include a $951 million default judgment for a birth injury at a Utah hospital, a $207.6 millio...

Details worth keeping

Nuclear verdicts are growing at an alarming pace.