An exclusion found within the majority of physicians professional liability
insurance policy forms that eliminates coverage for claims involving the
alteration of medical records. The following scenario illustrates how this
exclusion would apply. An anesthesiologist uses the wrong type of anesthetic on
a patient, given the nature and duration of the operation being performed. As a
result of the error, the patient wakes up before the operation is completed and
eventually sues the anesthesiologist. But before receiving the lawsuit, the
anesthesiologist changed the patient's medical record to indicate that he
used the correct type of anesthetic. This exclusion would eliminate coverage
for the patient's lawsuit, given the dishonest nature of the
anesthesiologist's conduct in deliberately changing the patient's
medical record in an attempt to absolve himself from liability. The rationale
for this exclusion is that in the vast majority of situations where physicians
alter medical records, they do so in an attempt to remove or eliminate evidence
of their medical negligence in treating a patient. Accordingly, it is not the
intent of insurers to cover intentionally dishonest conduct of this kind.