Enc1102

Stav Gare
Genre Analysis Draft
9/30/15
Medical Malpractice Insurance Forms

One of the most important fields is and has always been the medical field. Even before
the times of hospitals, private clinics, etc, there was always a need for medical attention.
Whether it is at a young age from breaking an arm or being an elderly person with an illness,
health and medicine have always been on peoples top needs and priorities. This never ending
necessity for treatments has caused a high demand for medical professionals. However, this field
is one that takes years of studying and mastering in order to become a qualified. Students who
want to become doctors on average spend eleven years to become a certified MD (doctor of
medicine), not including specializing in a specific area. Although most doctors that are certified
are very talented in their field, doctors are only human and can make mistakes when diagnosing
a patient. These medical errors can lead to the injury or death of the patient. This then leads to
the patient or the patients family suing the physician for medical malpractice. Medical
malpractice is defined as Improper, unskilled, or negligent treatment of a patient by a physician,
dentist, nurse, pharmacist, or other HEALTH CARE professional.(Wests Encyclopedia of
Amercan Law). These rhetorical situations that are repeated and have different appropriate
responses to each circumstance leads to malpractice insurance being essential in the discourse
community of medical professionals. As Devitt discusses in Generalizing about Genres, by
connecting the dynamics of genres to discourse community and other social frames, a genre

must respond dynamically to human behavior and social changes (Devitt, 579). This means that
by being part of society and its ever-changing habits, people change society and therefore change
genres. This further shows that because health care is widely used in society, in order for doctors
to continue practicing they need to be protected from any possible situation that can harm their
medical license. Moreover, these law suits not only affect the doctor, but affect the hospital he
works for by damaging its reputation, and affect the doctors family emotionally and financially.
Because being sued for medical malpractice isnt uncommon in the medical field, professionals
in this industry have liability insurance to prevent the negative outcomes of lawsuits.

The first step in receiving liability insurance is by filling out a medical malpractice
insurance proposal form for healthcare establishments and healthcare professionals. Each
insurance company may seem to have similar layouts throughout these forms, but when
analyzing each section of these forms, there are some stark differences. The proposal forms of
the insurance companies Vero, RenaissanceRe, and Hiscox all portray rhetorical appeals, use of
highlighting, structure, and authority/power.

The rhetorical appeals of these forms display one way insurance companies persuade
doctors to fill out these forms. This is mainly portrayed through ethos. Ethos represents
credibility or an ethical appeal which involves persuasion by the character involved.(Ethos)
In all three of these proposal forms they use the terms healthcare professionals. This displays
the insurance companies acknowledgment that physicians are professionals, which may
persuade physicians to trust this source. However, each of these forms also have different ways
of showing credibility. Vero has a section mainly on important information that a physician
should be aware of including questions that are commonly asked. By displaying these questions

that are commonly asked proves that Vero is a reliable source and understands medical
malpractice. Furthermore, at the end of the form different addresses and phone numbers are
displayed of Vero branches all over the world. However, RenaissanceRe shows credibility in a
different way. By writing their address 125 Old Broad Street London, EC2 1AR, U.K. shows
that their firm is in London, which is a business booming area. One can only assume from this
that in order to be a firm in London, they have to be a liable insurance company. Lastly, Hiscox
illustrates their credibility by having a footnote Hiscox Underwriting Ltd is authorized and
regulated by Financial Conduct Activity. By being underwritten proves that a reputable source
is approving of all their statements. Although Vero, RenaissanceRe, and Hiscox have different
types of ethos, they all persuade doctors to comply and complete these forms.

Another way insurance companies persuade physicians to choose their firm is through
their highlighting in these forms. When first looking at these forms, they may seem to highlight
the same things, but every firm emphasizes on what they find to be significant to them. For
instance, Vero highlights the important information section and states that you should read the
following advice before proceeding to complete this Proposal form. (Vero) By stressing this
section, one can infer that Vero primarily cares about stating the laws so the physician cant be
confused of the requirements to be insured by this firm. On the other hand, RenaissanceRe
emphasizes on the information that the physician is required to complete. RenaissanceRe
information section is expounded upon through many specific questions demonstrating that their
goal is more about knowing every detail that can help them defend the physician in a lawsuit.
Hiscox proposal form highlights Which sections you should complete. This implies that not all
sections in this form are required for every physician and that some sections are specific to a

specialized organization. By pinpointing the highlighted areas in each of these forms conveys the
firms priorities.

Another format variation in these forms has to do with the structure. Structure includes
the parts in the forms and how each part is expounded upon. All these forms contain an
explanation of that specific proposal form, general information section, a claims section, and a
declaration section. As stated previously, each firm emphasizes on a different section. Vero only
has five sections: important information, details of the insured, claims and circumstances,
insurance, and declaration. In the information section there is not a lot of space for each
question, which further shows Vero being less interested in every detail of information.
However, Veros section that is most in depth is the important information section, which
displays their importance of stating rules. RenaissanceRe has the most sections: important
notices, general information, medical services, medical staff, records and risk management,
incidents and claims, insurance coverage requirements, additional information and declaration,
supplementary information, and addendum-public liability insurance. Their most emphasized
section with the most space is the information section illustrating their importance of knowing
the details. Hiscox has seven sections: instructions, your organization, medical malpractice,
home care, medical establishments, claims, and declaration. Hiscox has condensed instructions
and information section. Nevertheless, some sections in the information area has more space than
others. For example in section 2.5 Previous insurance history, they ask has any insurer ever
cancelled your medical malpractice/professional indemnity policy, declined/refused to renew, or
only accepted the risk at a special time? (Hiscox, 4) has the most space to fill out. This can be
because they want to be aware of possible past issues that occurred so they can decide if this

physician should be approved for their insurance coverage. The structure of these forms can be
related to highlighting in the sense that it displays what these firms care most about.

Lastly, authority and power plays a large role in influencing physicians to fill out these
proposal forms. In Materiality and Genre in the Study of Discourse Communities, Bawarshi
gives the example of a patients past medical history form. While the PMHS provides the doctor
with current health, past health, and insurance information, it also shows a different function of
genre. As we mentioned before genres organize the exchanges of language so these forms help
organize the communication between patients and doctors. This form also only asks physical
symptoms and nothing to do with mental health proving that mind and body are viewed as two
different entities and the doctors only concern is the physical aspects. This form displays that
the physician is the authority because he decides what is written and how it is written. This is
similar to malpractice proposal forms in the sense that each firm emphasizes on different
sections further displaying who is really has/given authority. By Vero showing a great deal of
credibility through the introduction and rules, the one with authority is apparently the firms.
RenaissanceRe emphasizes on the information the physician fills out showing that in essence
they have authority. Hiscox first section Which sections should you complete may seem to be
giving the physician the possibility to choose what to complete, but in reality, similar to Vero,
they are giving rules to abide by giving them the authority and not the physician.

In every discourse community there are genres and each genre has a different goal. The
medical malpractice proposal forms are just one genre in the discourse community of physicians.
This genre of insurance proposal forms has many firms representing a similar layout, but all
emphasize on a specific section. Each of these proposal forms may have some similarities, but

they also have many differences. While Vero is more concerned with liability, RenaissanceRe
and Hiscox are more concerned with reassuring the doctors. Although they each have different
approaches, each proposal form is designed to protect the physician from being sued from
medical malpractice.

Work Cited:
Devitt, Amy J. Bawarshi, Anis. Reiff, Mary Jo. Materiality and Genre in the Study of Discourse
Communities College English, Vol. 65, No. 5, Special Issue: Materiality, Genre, and Language
Use (May, 2003), pp. 541-558

Devitt, Amy J. "Generalizing About Genre: New Conceptions of an Old Concept." College
Composition and Communications, Vol. 44, No. 4. December 1993. pp. 573-586.
LiteraryDevices Editors. Ethos LiteraryDevices.net. 2013. Web. 4 Nov. 2014.
Medical Malpractice Insurance Form Hiscox. pp 1-7
Medical Malpractice Insurance proposal form for healthcare establishments and healthcare
professionals Vero. pp 1-10
Medical Malpractice Liability Insurance Proposal Form RenaissanceRe Syndicate 1458. pp 120
"Medical Malpractice." West's Encyclopedia of American Law, edition 2. 2008. The Gale
Group 30 Sep. 2015 http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Medical+Malpractice