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malpractice insurance

malpractice insurance

9 4.3
Insurance that pays costs when someone sues a professional for a mistake
  • noun
  • /ˈmælpræktɪs ɪnˈʃʊərəns/
translation icon : seguro de responsabilidad profesional
  • Quite a bit of my insurance career was spent working on medical malpractice insurance and workers' compensation.
  • medical malpractice insurance
  • mandatory malpractice insurance
  • malpractice insurance premiums

Examples

  • Unfortunately, the firm's malpractice insurance covered only the first $25 million.

    Academic text (1994)
  • Malpractice insurance rates being what they are, one may not take lightly even an accident of timing.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • "It's getting more difficult and more expensive to get malpractice insurance.

    Academic text (1994)
  • Another area that seems like it could seriously use reform is malpractice insurance.

    Blog text (3)
  • The surgeon had decided not to buy medical malpractice insurance and had none in force at the time of this incident.

    Academic text (1996)
  • No one is telling South Dakota lawyers they must carry malpractice insurance if they want to go into private practice.

    Academic text (2001)
  • Physicians may even wish to consider purchasing malpractice insurance through the hospital's carrier.

    Academic text (1993)
  • When physicians describe a crisis, they mean the lack of availability and affordability of malpractice insurance.

    Blog text (18)
  • For the most part, the tort reformers hammered the theme of high medical-malpractice insurance rates driving both insurers and physicians out of the state.

    Academic text (2006)
  • Many doctors purchase malpractice insurance to protect themselves from potential legal claims.

Synonyms

insurance
vsmalpractice insurance
2.0

A paid plan that protects you against loss, damage, illness, or death

is a specific policy bought by professionals to cover negligence lawsuits
liability insurance
vsmalpractice insurance
  • Specialized
6 3.7

A plan that pays money when you hurt other people or damage their things

is narrower, covering lawsuits for professional negligence by doctors and hospitals

Surface Forms

Morphology

malpractice + insurance

The meaning is directly and transparently derived from combining 'malpractice' (professional negligence) with 'insurance' (a policy providing compensation), i.e. a policy that covers malpractice claims. This is a regular noun–noun compound pattern found across languages and follows predictable English composition, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Malpractice insurance comes from the parts malpractice, a word for a professional 'mistake' or 'bad practice', and insurance, meaning protection against loss. The picture is simple: if a doctor makes a mistake and a patient sues, the insurance pays the costs, so the phrase means 'insurance that covers professional mistakes'.