While doctors and hospitals can buy insurance to cover malpractice suits, there is no similar plan on the patient side to provide the financial muscle to mount a suit. As a result only the well-heeled can afford to challenge the hospitals.
Also, the medical profession is well protected by the Bolam test that "established that there is no breach of duty of care so long as the doctor acted in accordance with a responsible body of medical opinion."
Just wondering whether an insurance programme, perhaps called The Patient Protection Insurance, can be set up along the lines of travel insurance. Just as a traveller would buy travel insurance before taking a trip, a patient going for surgery could pay a fixed sum upfront. With thousands undergoing surgery every year, a sizable war chest can be built up to provide for seasoned lawyers and independent expert medical witnesses (from abroad for obvious reasons), to sue for damages should an operation go awry.
With this facility, affected patients will at the very least have access to topflight legal advice on the merits of proceeding with a case instead of simply accepting a hospital's explanation with resignation.
TCH
My Reply
There is already such an insurance, called "after the event insurance". You can read the website of Lockton Insurance Brokers to learn more about it.
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