Michael H. Cohen: Multi-disciplinary Clinical Practices

One of the questions that arises in integrative care is what happens if you’re a chiropractor, an acupuncturist, or a massage therapist, or a licensed naturopathic physician and you’re working side by side or in collaboration with a medical doctor?

Are you held to the standard of care of your profession, or are you somehow held to a higher standard of care, because you’re practicing in an integrative fashion?

This question really depends on exactly what your practice looks like. Are you, for example, in a solo practice? Are you renting space? Are you renting from a medical facility? Are you simply referring back and forth? How closely are you cooperating with the medical side? Each of these nuances is going to affect your liability scenario.

One thing that I do for my clients is I provide a risk assessment. I will canvass your existing practice and look at all the different areas that could expose you to liability. One of the things that my law firm does is conduct a detailed risk assessment, looking for all the possible holes in your practice, all the possible sources of liability. We will then give you detailed recommendations as to how the protect yourself and minimize possible liability risks.