Physicians & Surgeons Professional Liability Insurance
Medical malpractice coverage scoped specifically to physicians, surgeons, and osteopaths.
This is an estimate, not a bound policy — a licensed VAB producer confirms final terms before coverage starts. Sgt. Savings can answer questions but can't quote, bind, or guarantee coverage.
Physicians & Surgeons Professional Liability schedules the practice of medicine, surgery, and osteopathy onto VAB's base Medical Professional Liability policy — covering exam, diagnosis, triage, consultation, treatment, prescribing, surgical and other invasive procedures, anesthesia, and supervision of other healthcare providers. It confirms defense costs don't erode your liability limit, and carves back technology-failure and communicable-disease claims that the base policy would otherwise exclude.
Who This Is Really For
The ideal buyer.
The ideal buyer is a physician or surgical practice that already has the base Medical Professional Liability structure in place and is now scheduling this endorsement to actually activate coverage for the practice of medicine and surgery specifically — often triggered by a surgeon joining the practice, a new procedure being added to their scope, or a renewal conversation where someone notices the endorsement hasn't been reviewed since the practice's service mix changed. This buyer cares specifically about defense costs sitting outside the liability limit, because surgical claims often involve long, expensive defenses, and a practice that's watched a colleague's available limit get eaten by defense costs alone understands exactly why that protection matters. Practices supervising nurse practitioners, physician assistants, or other staff are a distinct and common sub-segment of this buyer — they need the supervision language explicitly, since vicarious liability for supervised staff is one of the more commonly misunderstood gaps in a standard malpractice conversation. This buyer is evaluating the endorsement against their actual scope of practice line by line, not assuming a generic malpractice policy already covers whatever they do.
- Physicians and surgeons in independent or group practice
- Osteopathic physicians (DOs)
- Practices where physicians supervise other healthcare providers and incidental staff care
- Physicians who want defense costs kept outside the liability limit, so a long defense doesn't erode what's available to pay a judgment
- Practices wanting patient-injury claims tied to a technology failure or communicable-disease management specifically covered
What It Covers
Coverage, broken down.
Practice of medicine, surgery, and osteopathy as professional services
Covers exam, diagnosis, triage, consultation, treatment, prescribing and administering medication, surgical and other invasive procedures, anesthesia, and supervision of other healthcare providers, including incidental care by supervised staff.
Technology-failure carve-back
Restores coverage for patient-injury claims connected to a technology failure during care delivery — relevant as more of a physician's workflow (records, imaging, monitoring) runs through digital systems.
Communicable-disease carve-back
Restores coverage for patient-injury claims tied to communicable-disease diagnosis, treatment, or management, sublimited if scheduled.
Defense costs outside the limit
Confirms that defense costs under Insuring Agreement A do not erode the liability limit of insurance — a meaningful protection, since a long or complex defense can otherwise eat into what's available to pay a judgment.
Illustrative Scenario — How This Coverage Responds
Illustrative scenario — a surgical complication claim
A surgeon performs a procedure and the patient experiences a complication the patient alleges resulted from a deviation from the standard of care during the operation. The patient sues the surgeon and practice. Physicians & Surgeons Professional Liability responds to the defense and any resulting settlement or judgment, since surgical and other invasive procedures are specifically scheduled as covered professional services under this endorsement — and defense costs are confirmed not to erode the limit of insurance, so a lengthy defense doesn't shrink what remains to resolve the claim.
Illustrative example for education only — not a claim outcome or a promise of payment. Every claim depends on the actual policy issued and its terms.
More Than One Way In
More scenarios.
Real coverage doesn't fit one story. Here's who else this shows up for.
The practice adding a new surgeon
A group practice brings on a new surgeon performing a procedure type the practice hasn't previously scheduled, and needs to confirm the endorsement's professional-services list actually reaches that procedure before the surgeon starts operating.
The EHR outage during a procedure
A practice's electronic health record system goes down mid-day, and a documentation gap during that outage becomes relevant to a later patient complaint, testing how the technology-failure carve-back applies.
The supervised PA's independent judgment call
A physician assistant under a supervising physician's practice makes a treatment decision without direct real-time oversight, and a resulting patient complaint raises the question of how the supervision language treats that specific act.
Know The Gaps
What this doesn't cover.
Every policy has limits. Knowing them before you buy is how you avoid a denied claim later.
Hospital, surgery center, clinic, or lab ownership, operation, or management
This endorsement covers the physician's own practice offices and their vicarious liability for a covered person's own medical incident — owning or running a larger facility is a distinct exposure that needs separate coverage.
Medical device or pharmaceutical product design, manufacture, sale, or distribution
A physician involved in developing or distributing a medical product beyond using it in patient care needs product liability coverage for that separate role.
Clinical trials, clinical research, and human-research activity
Research activity carries a different risk and regulatory profile than standard clinical practice and needs dedicated research liability coverage.
First-party cyber costs, even under the technology-failure carve-back
The carve-back restores coverage for third-party patient-injury claims tied to a tech failure — it does not cover your own breach-response costs like notification, ransom, or data recovery, which stay excluded.
Services outside the scheduled professional services for this endorsement
If a physician practices outside what's scheduled here — for example, a service better suited to a different specialty endorsement — that activity isn't automatically covered without updating the schedule.
Behind The Quote
What goes into the decision.
What actually moves your price and your approval — no black box.
Specific procedures and services scheduled
Coverage only extends to services actually scheduled under the endorsement, so how precisely a practice's real scope of practice is listed directly determines what's covered.
Supervisory relationships with other providers
The volume and structure of physician supervision over NPs, PAs, and other staff is directly relevant given that vicarious liability for supervised care is explicitly included.
Use of clinical technology in care delivery
As more of a practice's workflow runs through EHR, imaging, or remote monitoring systems, the technology-failure carve-back becomes more operationally relevant, not just a theoretical add-on.
Involvement in clinical trials or research
Since this is excluded outright, whether any providers in the practice participate in research activity changes what needs to be covered elsewhere.
Claims and complaint history by procedure type
Given that surgical and invasive procedures carry the highest severity within this line, a practice's procedure-specific claims history is directly relevant to how it's evaluated.
Let's get you covered.
Tell us what you need on Physicians & Surgeons Professional Liability Insurance — a licensed VAB advisor follows up personally. No bots, no runaround.
Looking for a session that's already scheduled? Browse upcoming webinars.
Availability
Available to physicians, surgeons, and osteopathic physicians nationwide, with worldwide coverage territory, placed and administered state by state.
Questions, answered straight
No jargon on physicians & surgeons professional liability insurance — just what you're actually asking.
No — this endorsement confirms defense costs sit outside the limit of insurance under Insuring Agreement A, so they don't erode the amount available to resolve the claim.
Yes, patient-injury claims connected to a technology failure during care delivery are specifically carved back into coverage under this endorsement.
Yes — supervision of other healthcare providers, including incidental care by supervised staff, is specifically included as a covered professional service.
No, clinical trials and human-research activity are excluded and need dedicated research liability coverage separate from this endorsement.
Communicable-disease diagnosis, treatment, and management claims are carved back into coverage, sublimited if scheduled — worth confirming that sublimit fits your practice's exposure.
This endorsement schedules the practice of medicine, surgery, and osteopathy onto that base policy's claims-made structure — you need the base coverage in place, and this is what makes it apply specifically to physicians and surgeons.
Beyond This Coverage
What people in your situation also need.
Equipment Financing
Surgical and physician practices regularly need to finance operating-room, diagnostic, or imaging equipment.
ExploreGroup Benefits
Practices supervising NPs, PAs, and support staff need a benefits program to attract and retain that clinical team.
ExploreBusiness Banking
A physician or surgical practice scheduling this endorsement is a natural fit for VAB's core business banking relationship.
ExploreRelated Coverage
Coverage people pair with this.
Medical Professional Liability Insurance
Claims-made medical malpractice coverage for healthcare providers and organizations.
Learn moreTelehealth & Digital Health Providers Errors & Omissions Insurance
Professional liability coverage for licensed providers delivering care remotely.
Learn morePsychedelic Therapeutics Liability
Liability coverage built for state-licensed psychedelic therapy providers.
Learn moreReady to talk it through?
Get a quote in minutes, or ask Sgt. Savings a straight question first — no pressure, no runaround.
Insurance products described on this page are marketed by The Veteran Alliance, a licensed insurance producer, and underwritten by one or more separately licensed insurance companies, which may include Corgi Insurance Company and its affiliates. The insurer that actually underwrites your policy, its licensing status in your state, and any state-required notices will be identified in your quote and policy documents. Coverage, limits, eligibility, and pricing are determined by the underwriting insurer, may vary by state, and may change. Nothing on this page is a quote, an offer of insurance, a binder, or a guarantee of coverage — coverage takes effect only when a policy is issued.