Has Anyone Ever USED Their Malpractice Insurance?

Nurses General Nursing

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I was reading the thread about the disappointing visit to the BON and this gives rise for another discussion for me. Has anyone ever used their ? Did it really save money, or did you still have to pay an attorney out of your own pocket? I am curious because it makes me wonder...NSO doesn't charge too much, just under $100 a year, but does that really help us when we are in trouble, or does it just make us feel comfortable to have it?

They have a risk management team who has our best interest at heart.

If you believe this, I have a bridge in Arizona I'd like to sell you ... :roll

Seriously, every employer says what your employer told you, and it's just not true. When the day comes that the doo-doo hits the fan, if the facility can minimize its own liability by throwing a few RNs under the bus, those RNs will get thrown under the bus so fast it will take your breath away. I have witnessed this myself, personally, many times, in a wide variety of facilities (happening to others, that is -- I've been lucky so far ...)

Trust me on this -- the risk management team has the hospital's best interests at heart, not yours.

Okay, now I get it. Mum's the word!

LOL!! I forgot to answer you and went back and edited it. :D

Seriously, every employer says what your employer told you, and it's just not true. When the day comes that the doo-doo hits the fan, if the facility can minimize its own liability by throwing a few RNs under the bus, those RNs will get thrown under the bus so fast it will take your breath away. I have witnessed this myself, personally, many times, in a wide variety of facilities (happening to others, that is -- I've been lucky so far ...)

Trust me on this -- the risk management team has the hospital's best interests at heart, not yours.

Absolutely right. PLEASE get your own and don't even let your employer or anyone know you have it unless you absolutely need to do so to protect yourself down the line.

If you don't work for the hospital that I do, then you don't know what you are talking about. Because the hospital is a state entity, it can't be sued. Only individual health care workers can be sued. I know people who have been involved in suits, and they were satisfied. Whenever an unexpected event(i.e., self-extubation, falls) happens, we trendtrack the event. Suits may come years later, and the hospital has the information on record. Those who need their own insurance, I say go for it. But if your hospital truly covers you (seek more info), I wouldn't get any extra. It allows the plaintiff to continue to come after you for more money.

Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
If you don't work for the hospital that I do, then you don't know what you are talking about. Because the hospital is a state entity, it can't be sued. Only individual health care workers can be sued. I know people who have been involved in suits, and they were satisfied. Whenever an unexpected event(i.e., self-extubation, falls) happens, we trendtrack the event. Suits may come years later, and the hospital has the information on record. Those who need their own insurance, I say go for it. But if your hospital truly covers you (seek more info), I wouldn't get any extra. It allows the plaintiff to continue to come after you for more money.

I have seen city, county and state hospitals sued...look at the Kings County Incident where the patient died on the floor, on camera. They just settled for 2 million. Meanwhile, the nurses were still thrown under the bus. Now it is true that some of them lied and forged documents to cover their rear ends, but to be honest, there is still so much that we just don't know about the entire incident. Where was the nursing station located? What was the census? How many nursing staff members were there? What else was happening within the unit? They could have called their nursing supervisors, the AOD and even filled out protests of assignments that very morning, who knows? And, it could have been ignored. Maybe there were reasons to that could have preceded the death that the nurses could have had a legitimate complaint, had they not lied and forged. It is Risk Management's job to trendback events, and no facility wants to say that they don't have a flawless staff. But, I can't accept that an entire facility will totally support their employees to the bitter end. And, if they sue individual health care workers (and of course, ANYONE can do that), this is the point we are making.

So, I respectfully say that it is true that I don't work for your hospital and again, I respect your decision to decide not to take personal . It is an individual choice, for sure. I just think that no one should put entire trust in anyone but themselves, no matter what choice they make.

Specializes in MS.

ok..........so i need info on how to get please.......

Specializes in Operating Room.
Going on with this same thread, my hospital assures me that I do not need any extra insurance, and that they will cover me. This is a large Catholic hospital that I would like to believe would cover me. Has anyone else heard this from their hospital?
Yes, and they are full of crap. These days, it doesn't matter if it's a Catholic hospital or not. I worked for one a few years ago and they treated their employees terribly. Any hospital will say that you don't need it. They say this because should a lawsuit arise, if you have insurance, you'll have a lawyer looking out for YOUR interests, not the hospital's. I have seen nurses get thrown to the wolves to protect a doctor or the facility. In some cases, the nurse did nothing wrong.

Please get yourself insurance..you have to look after yourself and not depend on your facility to do it for you.

Going on with this same thread, my hospital assures me that I do not need any extra insurance, and that they will cover me. This is a large Catholic hospital that I would like to believe would cover me. Has anyone else heard this from their hospital?

In the absence of contrary information, I assume your employer has good intentions, but at some point in a lawsuit or complaint at the BON, your interest and your employers are likely to diverge.

For the very minimal costs involved, it's crazy not to have your own insurance that doesn't have divided loyalties.

:twocents:

Specializes in Operating Room.
If you believe this, I have a bridge in Arizona I'd like to sell you ... :roll

Seriously, every employer says what your employer told you, and it's just not true. When the day comes that the doo-doo hits the fan, if the facility can minimize its own liability by throwing a few RNs under the bus, those RNs will get thrown under the bus so fast it will take your breath away. I have witnessed this myself, personally, many times, in a wide variety of facilities (happening to others, that is -- I've been lucky so far ...)

Trust me on this -- the risk management team has the hospital's best interests at heart, not yours.

Not to be mean, but I laughed out loud when I read about the risk management team having the nurses best interests at heart..:lol2: Risk management/hospital administration by and large have sold their souls to the devil:rolleyes:..often, they know darn well that the nurse has done nothing wrong, but it's alot easier to go after a nurse than a doctor.

The other reason I have it is because it moves with you and it covers you if you do volunteer nurse work or have more than one job.

I work for a large teaching hospital that is a state entity. All health care workers are covered. We were told that it would only hurt us to take out our own liability because if we were sued, the people could keep coming after us to get that money too. But I have never heard any complaints. They have a risk management team who has our best interest at heart. Our incident reports are kept on record for years, just in case anything comes up. I think if you work for a private hospital you need your own coverage.

Ask yourself who pays the risk managers, you or the state?

Their first duty is to the employer, not to you, the nurse.

Even assuming the best intentions of every party, there will be circumstances in which there are genuine issues of who was at fault, the nurse or the facility. Guess which side the risk managers and agency lawyers will take.

Liability insurance costs a few hours pay per year. It's foolish not to get it, imho.

If you don't work for the hospital that I do, then you don't know what you are talking about. Because the hospital is a state entity, it can't be sued. Only individual health care workers can be sued. I know people who have been involved in suits, and they were satisfied. Whenever an unexpected event(i.e., self-extubation, falls) happens, we trendtrack the event. Suits may come years later, and the hospital has the information on record. Those who need their own insurance, I say go for it. But if your hospital truly covers you (seek more info), I wouldn't get any extra. It allows the plaintiff to continue to come after you for more money.

First, check out very carefully if a state hospital can be sued. The sovereign immunity is no longer as high a barrier as it was a few decades ago, as a quick perusal of the news will show.

Plaintiffs will "come after" you regardless of your insurance coverage. There is no reason for them not to, since suits usually name everyone possibly connected to the incident that precipitated the suit, out to the third cousin of the janitor on duty that day.

I'm afraid you're being rather naive. :twocents:

Specializes in ICU.
ok..........so i need info on how to get malpractice insurance please.......

One source is Nurses Service Organization (NSO). See http://www.nso.com .

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