Paramedic Legal Protection
Date: 2014-01-14
Paramedic Legal Protection
Paramedic Legal Protection is available with any OPA memberships stating "with Legal Protection" and includes the following:
- Employment Disputes ($100,000)
- Contract Disputes ($100,000)
- Tenancy Disputes ($100,000)
- Fault Determination & Total Loss Valuation Disputes ($100,000)
- Drivers License Protection ($100,000)
- Obtaining Statutory Accident Benefits from your Automobile Insurer ($100,000)
- On-Duty Legal Defense ($100,000)
- Bodily Injury ($100,000)
- Property Protection ($100,000)
- Tax Protection ($100,000)
- Unlimited Legal Advice
- Legal Document Review
- Simple Legal Letter Drafting
- Legal Document Centre
NOTE: Aggregate limit per annual period ($500,000)
NOTE: Due to the Terms & Conditions of this policy, Paramedic Legal Protection is only available to OPA members in our chapters across Ontario.
Learn more at: http://www.OttawaParamedics.ca/legal
Protect Yourself Now
We are proud to announce that a robust Legal Expense Insurance policy is now available with the following membership types:
- Full Paramedic (with Legal Protection)
- Associate (with Legal Protection)
- Alumni (with Legal Protection)
OPA members can pay monthly or annually. Join Now to become a legally protected member: https://www.OttawaParamedics.ca/members/register/
Background - Research
Paramedics throughout Ontario and across Canada have been facing an increasing amount of litigation.
Beginning in 2014, the Professional Paramedic Association of Ottawa started providing Legal Protection to all paramedic members and associate members. In 2015, the Ontario Paramedic Association and their subchapters started providing the same insurance with membership.
Our research originally started in 2012 when we began to conduct an analysis and jurisprudence review of legal issues affecting paramedics across Canada. The evidence yielded two clear problems:
- Paramedics do not have adequate legal indemnification or legal protection whether they are on-duty or off-duty
- Whether on-duty or off-duty, paramedics are facing an increasing number of charges that fall under statutes such as the Criminal Code of Canada, Ambulance Act and Highway Traffic Act.
Over the last decade, paramedics have personally defended themselves at extraordinary costs. In each case, retainers for legal counsel started at $1,500-$2,500. Lawyers charge $350/hour. The average cost for individual court cases involving paramedics have been $16,000-$60,000 with higher profile cases costing up to $100,000.
Background - Options
We researched a number of solutions in order to determine the best means to adequately and promptly protect our members:
- Indemnity Clauses (do not prospectively fund litigation unless it is successful and only after it has completed
- Professional Liability (Medical Malpractice) Insurance (already provided by employers through the Frank Cowan Company)
- Legal Defense Funds (do not exist in most areas, takes years to build an adequate fund, does not protect against base hospitals, MOH, HTA, off-duty charges and does not protect non-union paramedics or office staff)
- Legal Expense Insurance (provides immediate legal consultation, paralegal, paid lawyers and will provide paid legal representation against base hospitals, MOH, HTA drivers license protection, contract disputes, property protection, employment disputes, fault determination, total loss valuation, statutory accident benefits, driving other vehicles, bodily injury, tax protection and protects against off-duty charges as well as non-union paramedics and office staff)
As this was being designed from scratch, we selected the best possible protection for Ontario Paramedics was clearly Legal Expense Insurance.
Due to the size of the Ontario Paramedic Association, we were able to establish very low group rates for Legal Expense Insurance from DAS Canada and North City Insurance Brokers. This insurance normally sells to individuals for over $700/year. Thanks to having a membership base in the thousands, we were able to establish group rates at 90% off and include Legal Protection with your OPA membership dues.
The Ontario Medical Association now provides this exact same policy to their members.
Background - Information
Please check this link for more information about Paramedic Legal Protection.
Background - Pilot Project
As of January 2014, the Professional Paramedic Association of Ottawa (PPAO) became the first chapter in Canada to include Paramedic Legal Protection as a value-added benefit of membership for Paramedic members and Associate members.
The PPAO experienced significant growth with 98.6% of the paramedics in Ottawa becoming Full Paramedic paid members. Dozens of paramedics from surrounding services have also joined the PPAO in order to obtain Paramedic Legal Protection.
We are confident that any chapter who offers Paramedic Legal Protection to their members will experience growth and development. It is simply the right thing to do in a very litigious society where paramedics are not currently afforded adequate legal representation.