Personal malpractice insurance....yes or no?

I have personal malpractice insurance. The hospitals are looking out for their best interests, not mine.

I have heard that arguement about if you don't have insurance they won't spend time going after you. I don't buy it. If you own property or have money in the bank it can be taken should they go after you. They can even get a judgement against you and siphon off your future earnings. In a lawsuit the attorney will name everyone involved and worry about who they are going to go after later. You will be served papers that you must fill out describing your net worth. This is the time you need an attorney. Your place of employment is not going to supply you with one. Your insurance company will fight for you as any judgement will come out of your carriers pocket. It is much like not carrying auto insurance and causing an accident. There is no guarantee the injured is going to just say forget about it because you have no insurance. So you pay $100 a year for 1 million worth of insurance. You get an attorney and if you lose and have to pay 1 million it only cost you $100. Sounds like a good deal to me.

I just picked up coverage this week actually. Most of my coworkers (in LDRP) don't have it, they throw out the lawyers will go after you if you have it argument... but some of these same nurses also don't hold any property in their name "just in case". Personally I'd rather have the peace of mind a personal policy provides. I'm a young, new nurse, I've got a good 30+ years of potential wages that could be garnished should a suit be filed and lost.

It's not about being a good nurse or a bad nurse; you can be the best nurse in the world and still have a case with a bad outcome.

There was a thread on this when I first came here and just about everyone said to get it, so I am...even as a student, I am going to carry my own malpractice insurance. I don't trust ANYONE to back me up and am not willing to lose everything over some imagined slight I may or may not have performed!

I bought private insurance 30 years ago as a student and I continue to renew it to this day. As stated by someone else......your facility will look after them selves big time and you had better look out for your own interests. I highly recommend getting your own private malpractice insurance no matter where you work. As an OBGYN nurse I know for sure that EVERYONE wants the healthiest baby and heaven help us if the outcome is less than perfect. I would not want to count on my bosses to bear the cost of saving my butt if things are my fault or not.OB is one practice that is very suit prone. In a country where we can be sued for dentures breaking (for example),don't you think we should do everything in our power to make sure we are covered as much as possible?

I will carry it from student nurse to retiree. 1) I don't want to lose my assets in case of a suit. 2) If it is my fault, I want the person to be compensated for care of the child/mother or whoever if I work in another dept.

I have a better cure for frivolous lawsuits. Cap the lawyers fees. I think they should get 5000 and not a penny more. And if they lose, the lawyers have to pay the dr/nurse or whoever plus the lawyer fees. And the person who brought the suit has to put 10 percent of their earnings for the last year in a fund to help (pick a charity).

Sigh.

Is $100 (more or less) a good deal if it's not needed?

If nurses "feel better" having malpractice insurance, buy it. But realize it's simply a form of therapy.

Remind yourself: nurses just don't get sued very often. Oh, it happens on a very, very rare basis, but the reason it's "so reasonable" (as we are reminded all the time) is simply because it doesn't happen. Statistically speaking, it's not going to happen to you. Ever. Even if you are unfortunate enough to have bought malpractice insurance.

Attorneys get paid (in almost every such case) a percentage (usually 35-40%) of the final settlement. No attorney in her right mind is going to come after a nurse who doesn't have malpractice insurance because it simply isn't worth it. Why bother? The attorney isn't doing this as a cause: she's hoping to make some money from it.

Such trials often require months or tedious, expensive preparation. Then there's the trial itself, complete with the attorney having to shell out money for expert witnesses, and other such fees. Don't make yourself inviting to such attorneys. Malpractice insurance is an open invitation.

As for the fear of garnishing of future wages, let's put this in perspective. Let's say you have a minimal net worth. You're telling me an attorney is going to salivate at the prospect of a judge ordering a garnishment of -- say -- $100 a week -- against your wages for the rest of your life to pay off the -- let's pick a number: $500,000? -- settlement we're hypothetically talking about? What are the chances you as a nurse will sit still for this? What are the odds you will simply declare bankruptcy, and go on with your life? The attorney is no fool. There are other fish to fry.

Jim Huffman, RN

I have carried mapractice insurance for my entire 14 yr nursing career. I don't believe it is a frivolous investment. I pay $74/yr for 500,000 per incident and 3 million aggregate. Not only does the policy "CYA" it also provides license protection. I agree with Jim in that a lawsuit is probably not likely, however, what if it did? What if the nurse is found liable? That would be devastating in and of itself, but what if you lost your license for a period of time or forever? Not worth it to me. Another thing, DO NOT trust the fine institution that you are employed by to stick it's neck out for little ol you....they are going to take care of themselves first. There is no respondeat superior like they told us about in school. On the other hand, if you are acting prudently, following policy, and practicing the standard of care you are in much better shape.

PS I have never been sued or named in a suit.

For the measly <$100/yr. that it costs, I say it's worth it even if you never are named in a lawsuit or even come close to one. For the peace of mind it would bring, it's worth it. The minute that I didn't have it would be when something would probably happen.