Members of BASA and the Podiatry Association (excluding students) can optionally enjoy the full range of covers below.
If you are a student of any of the covered professions (physiotherapist, biokineticist or podiatrist) then you are only covered for medical malpractice/professional indemnity and you do not enjoy any of the other covers reflected below
Covers provided
- Professional indemnity/medical malpractice: R2,5 million in the aggregate per annum. Excesses: R1000 each and every claim for public liability employees, R2500 each and every claim for private practitioners and R5000 each and every claim relating to dry-needling.
- Public liability: R2, 5 Million in the aggregate per annum. Excess R1000 each and every claim.
- Employers’ liability: R2, 5 million in the aggregate per annum. Excess R1000 each and every claim.
- Statutory defence costs: R100 000 in the aggregate per annum. Excess R5000 each and every claim.
- Wrongful arrest: R100 000 in the aggregate per annum. Excess R5000 each and every claim.
Professional indemnity: this is cover for all claims arising out of your negligence or alleged negligence in the rendering of professional services (limited under the policy to professional services rendered as a physiotherapist, a podiatrist or a biokineticist).
This section of the cover also provides you with cover for all complaints that may be lodged against you with the HPCSA- regardless of whether or not they involve claims of negligence against you- e.g. if there is a complaint about the way that you have advertised your practice.
Medical Malpractice: This is a specialized form of professional indemnity and covers you for physical harm or injury suffered by one of your patients as a result of your alleged negligence in the rendering of healthcare related services.
In the aggregate: Basically- this means e.g. under the section of professional indemnity/medical malpractice that you have a bucket of R2,5 million to use for claims arising in that year. This means for example that you would be covered for one claim of R2,5 million or a whole lot of claims adding up to R2,5 million.
Please note that the limit of indemnity- which basically is the amount that you are covered for under each section- includes legal defence costs. So all legal defence costs need to be paid out of the limit of indemnity- i.e. there is no extra amount to cover legal defence costs- both awards made against you/settlement amounts and legal costs need to be paid out of the limit of indemnity.
Excess: This is the amount of each claim that you need to pay. It does not apply to legal costs, so eg if underwriters appoint an attorney to defend you but the matter never goes to court and there is no settlement offer or damages award made against you- you will not need to pay the excess.
Public liability: This section covers you for your liabilities to members of the public arising out of the conduct of your healthcare profession. Please note that in order for the policy to respond there needs to be some kind of allegation of negligence against you which has resulted in harm to a member of the public and you need to be legally liable to that person.
It does not cover any claim that would properly be covered under any other kind of insurance- eg motor vehicle insurance, Road Accident Fund Statutes, Labour issues, or anything covered under Workmen’s’ compensations enactments. Some examples of where you would be covered- you have a faulty hand-rail on stairs at your premises which you are aware of- a patient falls down the stairs because the hand-rail comes loose and subsequently sues you for hospital expenses incurred and further damages.
Employers’ Liability: This section covers you for liability for claims arising out of injury to one of your employees where such injury occurs on duty. Please note that cover is excluded under the policy where any workmen’s compensation enactment applies.
This cover should not be confused with fidelity guarantee cover which provides cover in the instance that an employee steals from you. This policy does not provide fidelity guarantee cover.
Statutory Defence costs: Cover is provided for legal defence costs where it is alleged that in the course of your healthcare profession you have contravened a statute. Please note that there are exclusions under this section as well as the other sections mentioned above and you are advised to familiarize yourself with these as they appear in the policy wording.
Wrongful arrest: This covers you for claims arising from any allegations that you have wrongfully arrested someone.
Run-off Cover: This is effectively an extended reporting period.
Generally if your cover has lapsed or you have not renewed your membership and you report a claim you will not be covered for that claim because there is no policy in place.
However- this run-off cover allows you a period of 3 years after your cover has lapsed or not been renewed, within which to report claims arising from services rendered whilst you were still insured under the SASP policy.
Please bear in mind though that it is a condition of the policy, regardless of this cover, that you notify us as soon as you become aware of any potential claim against you. The run-off cover will not assist you if it is established that you knew or aught reasonably to have known that there was the possibility of a claim being made against you and you did not report that at the time.
Run-off cover also does not cover you for continuing services after you have allowed your policy to lapse or discontinued your cover. The cover is only for claims arising from services rendered whilst you were covered under the SASP policy.
