Physicians Seeking Indemnification from Managed Care Organizations: Transforming Equities and Remedies
![handle is hein.journals/jfku7 and id is 13 raw text is: INDEMNIFICATION AND MCOs
PHYSICIANS SEEKING INDEMNIFICATION FROM
MANAGED CARE ORGANIZATIONS:
TRANSFORMING EQUITIES AND REMEDIES
Lois Wolf Schwartz* and Jeffrey Cambra**
with Lawrence I. Schwartz, MD.
I. INTRODUCTION
This article explores new legal relationships between physicians and managed care
organizations (MCOs) and the impact of these changes on allocation of liability in
malpractice actions. The physician and the MCO are increasingly at odds in
determining the type and extent of medical services patient subscribers may receive.
Traditionally, the physician bore most, if not all, of the responsibility for such
decisions when they resulted in malpractice actions; MCOs were thought to be
immune since as corporations they were not practitioners of medicine. As liability
theories have adjusted and responded to structural changes in health care delivery
systems, physicians are still on the front line in malpractice awards. However, recent
statutory and case law clearly establishes that MCOs can no longer evade liability
entirely. As the equities change, physicians have new opportunities to obtain
indemnification if necessary. Physicians seeking such relief from MCOs need to adapt
for their own purposes much of the legal theory generally associated with plaintiff
claims.
Lois W. Schwartz is ActingDean of John F. Kennedy University School of Law. Sie also teaches at Boalt
Hall, U C. Berkeley, Hastings College of the Law, and Santa Clara University. Sie received her JD. from
Boalt Hall in 1989, her M.A. in Library Science from the University of Chicago in 1990, and her A.A in
English fron the University of Chicago in 1972.
- Jeffrey Cambra is a 1996 graduate of John F Kennedy University School ofLaw.
- Lawrence . Schwartz received his MD. from Chicago Medical School in 1971 and completed his training
in internal medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago in 1975. He is a practicing internist and serves
as Vice President of the Medical Staff ofSunmmit Medical Center in Oakland, California.
The authors wish to thank their editorial team and the editorial staff at the Kennedy Law Review for excellent
support, suggestions, and infinite patience. In addition, Harry Shulnan, Esq. reviewed the article and
generously provided the benefit of his expertise.
[Vol.7:1 1996]](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/jfku7&div=5&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Physicians Seeking Indemnification from Managed Care Organizations: Transforming Equities and Remedies
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