West Virgina Physician Wins the Right to be Self-Insured
R. Edwards Hamrick, M.D., a surgeon in Charleston, WV, has won the right to be self-insured in a case decided this month by the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
The West Virginia Record reports that because Dr. Hamrick was paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual malpractice insurance premiums even though for over 20 years he'd never paid out for a claim, he decided to insure himself.
The article states that Dr. Hamrick put one million dollars into an actuarially sound fund in 2004 in order to qualify for the caps on non-economic damages passed in 2003's Medical Professional Liability Act.
Charleston Area Medical Center apparently did not believe that Dr. Hamrick's self-insured status met their requirements, and therefore suspended his privileges. Dr. Hamrick filed an injunction request, and has continued to practice at CAMC under that injunction.
In 2006 CAMC adopted a revised policy that allows physicians to insure themselves.
The case is also noteworthy in that the WV Court decided that all proceedings of the boards of directors or other governing bodies of such hospitals be conducted in an open and public manner, subject to exceptions noted in the WV Code. The court went on to state that the deliberative and decision-making process at CAMC takes place at MSEC meetings and MSEC is therefore a “governing body” for purposes of the Hospital Act.
West Virginia Record - Self Insured Doctor's Case
http://www.wvrecord.com/news/191202-supreme-court-wont-hear-hospitals-appeal-in-self-insured-doctors-case
Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia, No. 33107, Filed March 1, 2007
http://www.state.wv.us/wvsca/docs/spring07/33107.htm
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