Vicarious Liability Insurance

Your dental practice could be held vicariously liable for treatment malpractice provided by someone who is not an actual employee, such as self-employed associates or a temporary locum.

Liability can still be applied if a former employee has subsequently retired from your practice.

If an associate leaves the business for another country and cannot be located, the business or trading entity (a Ltd Company) may still be implicated, up to six years after the incident occurred.

Practice Owners, including Principal Dentists, should take note of the increasingly litigious environment in which businesses are now operating – especially in terms of their exposure to Vicarious Liability.

In Breakingbury v Croad (2021), Dr Croad (who sold his Practice in 2012) was found liable after allegations of malpractice relating to treatment provided by two self-employed Dentists; with no indemnity cover in place, he was forced to pay defence costs and compensation awards.

Entity insurance is designed to cover your practice (a limited company/trading entity) against claims or investigations that result from the actions of employees who have provided treatment, practitioners or directors, where the action is brought against the practice instead of the individuals responsible.

Appropriate malpractice insurance is required especially when trading as a limited company because the entity can be named by complainants when reporting issues to regulators.

Call the specialist medical malpractice team at Lloyd & Whyte on 01823 761054, or request a quote via the form.