Nebraska Statutes 44-2836. Malpractice liability insurance; limitation on liability; when; required policy provisions; insurer; failure to pay final judgment; effect
(1) As long as malpractice liability insurance remains in force under the qualification set forth in section 44-2824 and unless the patient has elected not to come under sections 44-2801 to 44-2855, the health care provider and his insurer shall be liable to a patient, or his representative, for malpractice, professional negligence, failure to provide care, breach of contract relating to providing medical care, or other claim based on failure to obtain informed consent to an operation or treatment, only to the extent and in the manner specified in sections 44-2801 to 44-2855.
Terms Used In Nebraska Statutes 44-2836
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Director: shall mean the Director of Insurance. See Nebraska Statutes 44-2807
- Health care: shall mean any act or treatment performed or furnished, or which should have been performed or furnished, by any health care provider for, to, or on behalf of a patient during the patient's care, treatment, or confinement. See Nebraska Statutes 44-2811
- Informed consent: shall mean consent to a procedure based on information which would ordinarily be provided to the patient under like circumstances by health care providers engaged in a similar practice in the locality or in similar localities. See Nebraska Statutes 44-2816
- Insurer: shall mean the authority or an insurance company engaged in writing malpractice liability insurance in this state. See Nebraska Statutes 44-2814
- Insurer shall: include all companies, exchanges, societies, or associations whether organized on the stock, mutual, assessment, or fraternal plan of insurance and reciprocal insurance exchanges. See Nebraska Statutes 44-103
- Patient: shall mean a natural person who receives or should have received health care from a licensed health care provider under a contract, express or implied. See Nebraska Statutes 44-2805
- Representative: shall mean the spouse, parent, guardian, adult child, executor, administrator, trustee, attorney, or other legal agent of the patient. See Nebraska Statutes 44-2808
- State: when applied to different states of the United States shall be construed to extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories organized by Congress. See Nebraska Statutes 49-801
(2) The filing of proof of financial responsibility with the director shall constitute, on the part of the insurer and the health care provider, a conclusive and unqualified acceptance of the provisions of sections 44-2801 to 44-2855.
(3) Failure of the patient or his representative to file his refusal to be bound by sections 44-2801 to 44-2855 shall constitute conclusive and unqualified acceptance of sections 44-2801 to 44-2855.
(4) Any provision in a policy attempting to limit or modify the liability of the insurer contrary to the provisions of sections 44-2801 to 44-2855 shall be void.
(5) Each policy issued under sections 44-2801 to 44-2855 shall be deemed to include the following provisions and any amendments thereto which may be occasioned by legislation passed by the Legislature of the State of Nebraska, as fully as if written in such policy:
(a) The insurer shall assume all obligations to pay an award imposed against its insured under the provisions of sections 44-2801 to 44-2855 ; and
(b) Any termination of the policy by cancellation shall not be effective as to patients claiming against the insured covered thereby unless, at least thirty days before the effective date of the cancellation, a written notice giving the date upon which termination becomes effective has been mailed to the insured at his last-known address and to the director at his office by certified or registered mail with sufficient postage attached.
(6) If an insurer shall fail or refuse to pay a final judgment, or shall fail or refuse to comply with any provisions of sections 44-2801 to 44-2855, in addition to any other legal remedy, the director may also revoke the approval of its policy form until the insurer shall pay the award or judgment or shall comply with the violated provisions of sections 44-2801 to 44-2855 and has resubmitted its policy form and received the approval of the director.
Source
- Laws 1976, LB 434, § 36.