One of your patients might file a civil action against you if they believe you practiced medicine negligently and caused them injuries and damages as a result. Of note, this civil case is a different process than the investigation by the New York State Department of Health’s Office of Professional Medical Conduct (OPMC) that will inevitably be prompted. Nonetheless, the outcome of one may affect the other. With all that being said so far, please read on to discover whether you should settle your medical misconduct case and how one of the seasoned New York attorneys representing uninsured physicians at Walker Medical Law can seamlessly step into your case.
Should I settle a medical misconduct case made against me?
Hopefully, you have preemptively bought into a Claims Made Medical Malpractice Insurance Policy. So, if you are served with a medical misconduct lawsuit, you may send these papers to your insurance company. From here, your provider may make arrangements to assign legal defense to your case and pay your ongoing legal bills. Or, they may settle the case on your behalf. Generally speaking, making a settlement offer for your medical misconduct case may lessen your legal costs in the long run, not to mention the time and energy you spend on this headache. This is ideal because you may have other pressing matters to worry about at the same time, namely your pending OPMC investigation.
Does my settlement offer impact the OPMC’s decision on the matter?
Your malpractice insurance company is required, by law, to report to the New York State Department of Health any settlement agreement it enters into on your behalf. In turn, this notification may call the OPMC to run an investigation against you. Overall, by settling, you are insinuating that you are guilty of committing medical misconduct and agree to amend it through financially compensating the plaintiff. In other words, this is essentially an admission of guilt that may ultimately skew the OPMC’s final decision on the matter. That is, it is more likely that the Board will charge you the same way: guilty.
Then, if you settled for a large dollar amount, the Board may have no choice but to assume that you caused serious damage through your misconduct. With this, they may be harsher with the penalties they sentence you to. This may mean a permanent medical license revocation instead of a temporary suspension. Plus, fines that reach the allotted maximum of $10,000 per offense, among other things.
With this side of the argument being put into consideration, it may be worth the risk of entering litigation proceedings for your initial medical misconduct case. However, you should not make any decision before consulting with your legal representative. But in the end, if you are ready to fight to protect your medical license, please retain the services of one of the competent New York attorneys representing uninsured physicians. Our team at Walker Medical Law awaits your phone call.
