If you are a medical doctor, registered nurse, chiropractor or any other kind of medical services provider, you already are aware of the high risk of facing a lawsuit at least once during your professional career. Depending on the specialty, doctors face between a 75 percent and 99 percent likelihood of going through a lawsuit at least once during a career that is filed by a patient or on behalf of a patient or his or her survivors, according to the New England Journal of Medicine. That means doctors are among professionals most in need of asset protection to ensure their personal lives and assets are kept wholly separate from their professional lives and assets.
Medical Doctors Aren’t Alone in Needing Asset Protection
Other medical professionals also face high likelihoods of facing lawsuits, from RNs that assist with surgical procedures to emergency personnel who might be held liable for any mishaps that might occur while helping one or more victims of auto accidents, natural disasters, fires or any other mishap that injures and threatens the lives of one or more people. Studies show most lawsuits accusing doctors and other medical professionals of medical malpractice either are settled out of court by insurance companies or are dismissed by the courts with no awards against the medical professionals, the cost of defending lawsuits still can be very costly as well as mentally draining for doctors and other professionals who need to keep their minds on their work.
Asset Protections Can Help Alleviate Concerns
If you are among the many medical professionals who likely will face a lawsuit regardless of the quality of care provided to patients and others, you can obtain meet with an experienced and skilled asset protection specialist and weigh many options for keeping your personal and family assets protected against lawsuits. That generally involves setting up a formal business structure for your practice, establishing revocable trusts and using other legal tools to protect you and your family.
Which assets would you most want to protect against potential lawsuits?