chevron-down Created with Sketch Beta.
March 18, 2013

The Law and Your Health

What to Do If You Have Problems

What is corporate negligence liability?

Corporate negligence liability, as it applies to health plans, holds that the plans owe you, as its member, a duty to:

  • take reasonable care in making sure that its doctors are qualified to provide proper treatment; and
  • to draft and enforce rules and policies to see that you get quality medical care.

This type of liability was used by a woman who was injured by the health plan urologist to whom her primary care provider referred her. The health plan did check to make sure the doctor was licensed but the health plan’s background check of the doctor was cursory. The court held that the health plan had a duty to its members to make sure that its doctors were qualified and to drop any doctors from its network if the health plan found the doctor posed a foreseeable risk of harm to its members.

>>What options do I have when my health plan refuses to cover the treatment I need?
>>>Can I recover damages from my health plan when it does not live up the promises in the health plan’s brochure?
>>Is the health plan legally responsible if I am injured because of a doctor’s mistake?
>>How can I recover from my health plan for negligence?
>>What is respondeat superior?
>>What is apparent authority?
>>What is corporate negligence liability?


Practical Law Home | Law & Your Health Home
Basics of Managed Care | *What to Do If You Have Problems*