Liability in IM subspecialties

[rs2006]

Hi all,

I hope everything is well. I know some might see this as a duplicate thread to one below and I am sorry for that. I am a fourth yr US med student considering IM with a possible subspecialization in Rhem, Allergy, or GI. I was wondering if anyone knows anything about the relative cost of liability insurance in these fields (which ones are "high risk"?)? In addition, I was wondering if anyone who works in the real world could comment on the reality of malpractice in private practice-- is it a big concern, or is it somethiing that people just talk about just to "whine"? I would be grateful for any input. Thanks.

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[Crypt Abscess]

For the above mentioned fields, malpractice is very reasonable. It is probably the highest for GI, due to procedure related complications (perforations, bleeding...). Malpractice is also high for GI docs that do advanced endoscopy (ERCP, stents...). I would think that the malpractice for Allergy and Rheum is very reasonable. I think Interventional Cards also has "reasonably high" malpractice rates. Just my .02. Crypt

 

[AJM]

I know several private practice physicians in "high-risk" medical specialties (ie pulmonary/cc, cards, GI), and no one ever talks about their malpractice rates being particularly high. While bad things can happen in these specialties, the malpractice rates will never come close to what you have to pay in Ob/Gyn or neurosurgery. (or in most of the surgical subspecialties, for that matter).

Rheum and allergy are very low risk, low mortality and low acuity medical specialties where you are treating people with chronic diseases. These specialties probably have some of the lowest malpractice premiums out of all the IM specialties.

But in general, I think that liability insurance in the IM fields are not nearly as big an issue as it is in other specialties.