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The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and its progeny have sparked confusion and uncertainty for individuals, medical providers, and employers with respect to the consequences of providing, seeking, or facilitating abortion care. Moreover, for both medical providers and employers, questions arose as to whether and how liability insurance might help alleviate these risks.

Now that a year has passed since the Dobbs decision, it is worth revisiting the liability landscape, as well as the question of how insurance coverage might play a role in providing relief with respect to the ongoing risk of litigation.

Background

The Dobbs decision, which held that access to abortion care is no longer a constitutionally protected right, raised a host of questions as to whether medical providers and employers might face civil or criminal liability for facilitating access to abortions, particularly in states that responded by enacting a panoply of restrictions in response to Dobbs. This uncertainty was heightened by inevitable litigation concerning the viability of the new statutes and has led to widespread confusion in many states. This confusion has been exacerbated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”), which initiated investigations into hospitals in Missouri and Kansas, asserting that they were in violation of the law by failing to offer necessary, life-saving abortion services.Continue Reading One year after Dobbs: Are medical providers and employers still at risk for lawsuits stemming from abortion access, and should they consider the role of liability coverage?

National Public Radio and other news outlets are reporting that a Los Angeles-area hospital recently paid a $17,000 ransom (in the form of 40 bitcoins) to hackers to unencrypt its computer networks, which had been held hostage after “ransomware” was introduced into the hospital’s network. Ransomware is a form of malicious software, or “malware,” that encrypts information or aspects of an organization’s computer network, preventing authorized users from accessing it. Persons maliciously cause the ransomware to be placed on the network, then demand money in exchange for an encryption key to unlock the network. It is not difficult to see the tremendous economic losses and liability risks of a ransomware attack, in particular to a medical facility treating vulnerable patients.
Continue Reading Companies can insure against cyber ransom