family plans on suing hospital, i'm nervous as hell.

The attorney you will be initially speaking with will be the attorney for the hospital. You will be given an opportunity to review the record and the attorney will ask you some questions. This initial meeting is usually casual. You want to find out if the family attorney has issued an intent to bring charges against the hospital. If they have, you need to ask to review what their allegations are. This is am important document because it will help you understand what their key points are. It is the responsibility of the attorney for the hospital to review the medical record, meet with staff as indicated, meet with the manager and review the hospital policy that was in effect at the time of the event. He/she might also what to know if there is any current disciplinary action in progress with any of the staff involved in the events. The manager will be responsible for providing information regarding staffing and staffing ratios for the time period in question. Just let me tell you that decub ulcers that occur in a hospital are almost always viewed by a jury as a sign of neglect.

I urge you NOT to discuss this case with anyone, even on this web site. If they find out that you shared any information regarding this case, you will be accused of patient privacy violations. So don't give us any updates regarding this matter.

Litigation is every nurse's worst fear, but it should make you feel better to know that only a small percentage of cases that are threatened are actually filed and make it to court. And an even smaller percentage of those win. Sounds like no one could have made this lady's life worse than it already was, and that's the burden of proof. The suits that really make me mad are those that hospital insurance companies insist on settling because it's cheaper to do so than to defend, even though they would probably not be won. Sounds like this guy was just fishing for info to see if the family had a case. Hopefully he'll decide that a few IV bruises or an antibiotic rash are not enough to make it worth his while.