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| No. 30 | 
Jun 24, 2009, 01:05 AM
 Re: Has Anyone Ever USED Their Malpractice Insurance? Originally Posted by Aydia1  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.
 | | Advertisement Sponsored Links | | | | No. 32 |
Jun 24, 2009, 01:14 AM
Re: Has Anyone Ever USED Their Malpractice Insurance? Originally Posted by elkpark If you believe this, I have a bridge in Arizona I'd like to sell you ...  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..  Risk management/hospital administration by and large have sold their souls to the devil  ..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.
| | No. 33 |
Jun 24, 2009, 01:49 AM
Re: Has Anyone Ever USED Their Malpractice Insurance? Originally Posted by NursingtheHeart 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.
| | No. 34 |
Jun 24, 2009, 01:58 AM
Re: Has Anyone Ever USED Their Malpractice Insurance? Originally Posted by NursingtheHeart 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.  | | No. 35 |
Jun 24, 2009, 07:46 AM
Re: Has Anyone Ever USED Their Malpractice Insurance? Originally Posted by CTMMaine ok..........so i need info on how to get malpractice insurance please.......
One source is Nurses Service Organization (NSO). See www.nso.com .
| | No. 36 |
Jun 24, 2009, 08:06 AM
Re: Has Anyone Ever USED Their Malpractice Insurance?
Thanks for all the advice about the insurance. I am an older student with much more to lose than the younger students and too have been worried that the amount that the nso policy covers is not enough coverage for people who do own more than the average. I will look into more coverage thanks for the advice.
| | No. 38 |
Jun 24, 2009, 08:17 AM
Updated
Jun 26, 2009 at 06:37 AM by sirI
Re: Has Anyone Ever USED Their Malpractice Insurance?
Not having your own insurance does not prevent you from being named in a suit. I know this. But whatever the hospital decides to pay the plaintiff, for instance, in a mediation (to prevent going to court), that would be final if the nurse has no extra coverage. But if the plaintiff's lawyers find the nurse has extra coverage, the case can drag on because the plaintiff wants some of that money as well. Like I said, this is specific to my hospital. It is unlikely that any of you work at a hospital like this. It is huge and cannot be sued in and of itself. Only individual nurses and doctors and other practitioners can be sued. I know of specific instances in which this has happened.
| | No. 39 |
Jun 24, 2009, 04:32 PM
Re: Has Anyone Ever USED Their Malpractice Insurance?
One of the members of our risk management team stated that in some instances, a private policy would not even cover the work incident. Has anyone else found this to be true?
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Perfectly worded...when you think about who pays who, you will see where the interests will eventually shift to.
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