Medical Malpractice vs Professional Indemnity
The crucial question is not whether the business is in healthcare. It is whether anyone exercises clinical judgement for an individual patient - and the same service can sit on either side of that line depending on the workflow.
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Professional indemnity generally addresses professional services and financial loss, while medical malpractice or medical professional liability addresses defined healthcare, diagnosis, treatment or patient-specific clinical judgement. A life sciences business can need one or both.
A consultant, platform or device company crosses the boundary when clinicians act through the entity, outputs influence treatment, patients receive individual guidance or contracts accept responsibility for clinical outcomes. The boundary is about what actually happens, not the marketing category.
Two covers either side of one line
Professional services, financial loss
Research advice, analysis, operational consulting, software services and regulatory support. The allegation is that professional work caused a client's loss. No patient-specific clinical judgement is exercised through the business.
Clinical judgement, patient harm
Diagnosis, treatment, triage, prescribing and patient-specific clinical decisions, whether delivered in person or through a platform. The allegation is that healthcare delivered to an individual caused harm. Registration, supervision and escalation controls become underwriting questions.
How a health platform moved across the line
Tank has seen a health platform move into the medical-indemnity boundary the moment doctors began reviewing patient imaging through it. Nothing about the company's branding changed. What changed was the workflow: clinicians were now exercising patient-specific judgement inside the business, and the exposure followed the judgement.
The same test applies to research consultants who begin advising on individual cases, apps that move from summarising information to recommending action, and device companies whose staff calibrate equipment against a specific patient's needs.
The boundary questions are always the same: who makes the decision, who is the user, what does the output do, and what does the contract promise? A disclaimer does not answer any of them - insurers and regulators look at what the service actually does. For software-specific boundary questions, see digital health and AI insurance.
Six questions that locate the line
- 01
Does anyone diagnose, treat, prescribe or advise an individual patient?
- 02
Are clinicians employees, contractors, users or independent customers?
- 03
Can an output influence a treatment or safety decision?
- 04
Who holds professional registration and their own medical indemnity?
- 05
What disclaimers, escalation and human-review controls exist in the workflow?
- 06
Are medical and non-medical services separately described in contracts and revenue?
Related life sciences guides
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Questions about Medical Malpractice Boundary
No. Pure business, operational or research consulting may be a PI exposure. Patient-specific clinical activity is what changes the analysis.
No. Insurers and regulators examine what the service actually does and how users rely on it, not the disclaimer alone.
Potentially. Contracts, vicarious liability and policy definitions must be reviewed, and each clinician's own cover matters alongside the entity's.
Some specialist wordings include both sections, but the quotation must expressly show them and match the declared activities. Assuming a combined title includes the medical section is a common error.
General information only. This page does not take account of your objectives, financial situation or needs and is not legal advice. Cover depends on the insurer, policy wording, limits, excesses, exclusions and information disclosed. Read the relevant policy documents and obtain professional advice before deciding.
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