Should I Carry Nursing Malpractice (Liability) Insurance?

Malpractice (liability) insurance provides essential legal and financial security. Many Nurses go "bare" and never really consider Liability insurance as important. Be sure you are well informed before you make any final decisions about your future. Nurses Career Support Video Knowledge

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This question comes up frequently and is asked of me quite often, "should I carry malpractice protection?"

What is Malpractice?

Simply put, it is a failure to adhere to a standard of care or conduct by a professional such as a Physician, Nurse, Attorney, etc. Malpractice occurs when it can be proven that the professional had a duty to provide a standard of care/conduct, breached that duty, an injury or damage resulted, and the injury/damage was caused by the breach.

No matter how educated, confident, and careful the Nurse is, unintentional mistakes can and will happen. Accidents will occur. And, unfortunately, willful neglect can be an issue. Injury and death very often are the results of mistakes, accidents, and neglect. Families want to know what happened. Even in the best scenario, the Nurse feels embarrassed and ultimately fears what the damage could do to a perfect professional reputation. Nurses must have the option of protecting their professional reputations and personal assets. Having individual is a smart solution.

Nurses will often make the following statement

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My employer covers me so I don't need my own malpractice/liability policy.

Yes, your employer's policy may cover you, but only up to a point. Remember: Your employer's policy is created to fit their specific needs and protects them first. You may even be told (by your employer HR) that you do not need your own policy. What they do not tell you is that they want you to be represented by their attorneys. They do not want "outside" representation for they know that their best interests will not be first and foremost.

All malpractice liability insurance policies have limits of liability. If you are only covered by your employer's insurance, other defendants employed at your entity may and probably do share your liability limits under the same policy. If you, as well as others, are named in a suit, your legal costs, including any settlement, could exceed your employer's shared liability limits. This would mean out-of-pocket expenses for you.

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What type of policy and how much coverage do I need as a Nurse?

These are questions that are very important when considering a policy.

Two Popular Policies

  • Occurrence-based - any covered incident occurring while the policy is in effect even if the policy is now canceled and/or you have retired
  • Claims-made - any covered incident only while the policy is in effect

The cost of a policy is economical and reasonable. For example, the annual premium could cover the first hour billed by Attorney. $1,000,000/$6,000,000 coverage premiums are approximate $100/year in most states for the Registered Nurse (RN) as well as for the Licensed Practical/Vocational Nurse (LPN/LVN).

Links of Interest

One major benefit of an individual policy that is often overlooked or taken for granted when considering coverage is license protection. Nurses need to be aware that this will extend beyond their employer's coverage and includes discipline issues that can be brought up by the individual Nurse's Board of Nursing (BON). Many Nurses do not have the financial ability to go against the BON, therefore, license protection is a must.

Another all-important beneficial consideration is that policies normally will include coverage regarding libel, slander and patient confidentiality, including HIPAA issues. These issues can be troublesome and include a great cost for the Nurse.

Finally, a common statement that is incorrect and based on myth ...

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Malpractice liability insurance will make me a target and I'll be named in a lawsuit.

When being named in a lawsuit, no one knows you have your own personal policy unless you have revealed this information. Only after a lawsuit is filed and only during the period of the discovery phase is this information available.

So, do you carry your own individual malpractice/liability insurance? In the end, the question of whether or not the Nurse should carry malpractice/liability insurance is a personal one and should be seriously considered.

The peace of mind knowing that you are covered is overwhelming.

The peace of overwhelming reassurance.

Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

Very good, madwife2002. I'm happy to see you did this.

1 Votes
Specializes in being a Credible Source.

I sometimes hear people say, "I've got nothing for them to take so I don't need insurance."

My response is, "Ah, but you do have something for them to go after... you have your future earnings as a nurse once you graduate. Unless you want to live underground, they can and will garnish your wages to satisfy the judgment."

The lawyers from the hospital's insurer are out to limit THEIR liability and if they think they can do so by tossing a nurse to the lions, that's what's going to happen. Me, I want my own insurer with lawyers whose duty is to defend me. $100-200 per year is cheap insurance, indeed.

2 Votes

I just finished my first year of NS and it was recommended that we purchase it prior to our first clinical last fall. I got it through NSO for $29. I was told that you can be sued down the line for something that occurs while you are a student, and if you didn't have coverage for that time, whatever insurance you later purchase can't help you.

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sirI,

Is there any particular areas of practice you would specifically recommend attain ? Ones that you feel should definitely be covered outside their employers carrier?

1 Votes
Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

Hello, Keysnurse2008

All areas are vulnerable. Patients and their attorneys are not selective with their lawsuits. I see a lot of LTC, ED, NICU, and OB cases. A few Med-Surg, OR, and MICU cases.

Check out this blog entry Litigious Areas of Nursing and the Nurse's Liability for some additional information.

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Can you give a link or something of where to find the insurance coverage that you got?

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

Hello, CTPCTstudent,

In the first post, I gave a list of several Liability carriers.

I use NSO - https://www.nso.com/

You can get free online quotes.

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Sorry...I didn't see that post :crying2:

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Keysnurse2008

Is there any particular areas of practice you would specifically recommend attain malpractice insurance? Ones that you feel should definitely be covered outside their employers carrier?

To me, it's not a matter of what area of nursing you work in -- it's a matter of whether you trust your employer to protect your interests (beyond protecting their own) if the doo-doo hits the fan. I do not. I worked as a hospital surveyor for my state and the Feds for several years, and saw, firsthand, in the course of investigating complaints against hospitals and suspicious deaths/injuries, many employers throw individual RNs under the bus in order to protect the facility -- this is what their attorneys (the ones who would also be advising you if you depend on your employer) tell them to do -- when it was often quite obvious, from reviewing the records and interviewing the parties involved, that the only thing the RN had done wrong was have the bad luck to be assigned to that particular client on that particular day ... The hospitals would single out one or more RNs they could "blame" for the incident, and then promptly fire them to show their good faith ("golly, we had no idea we had such a dangerous and incompetent nurse on our staff! We fired her as soon as we figured it out. 'cause we're doing everything we can to run a first-class operation here!") Guess what -- once Nurse X has been blamed and fired, she's no longer covered by the employer's insurance -- she's dangling in the wind by herself. If she doesn't already have her own coverage and the situation ends up with her needing legal representation, she'll have to pay the attorney out of pocket, because there is no way to get coverage after the fact for an incident that has already happened. And, if you ever find yourself in that situation, the first hour with an attorney will cost you a lot more than the annual insurance premium for the vast majority of RNs ...

My father was an MD and cautioned me while I was still in nursing school to never depend on an employer to protect me, and to never practice without my own, personal coverage. Everything I've seen in 25 years of practice since then has just reinforced to me what good advice that was.

Beyond what sirI has already discussed, personal liability coverage will also provide legal representation if you ever have to defend your license before the BON (which your employer probably would not), and provides coverage if you want to work as a volunteer somewhere (your church, local homeless shelter, disaster relief, etc.) -- which your employer's coverage definitely will not; you're only covered by your employer during the actual time you are working for them at their facility.

I'm another of those nurses that would never consider working a single day without my own coverage. I can't believe, after all these years, that there is still any discussion or controversy about the topic. ?

2 Votes
Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

No problem, CTPCTstudent.

Glad you brought it up again. It bears repeating.;)

1 Votes
Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.
elkpark said:
To me, it's not a matter of what area of nursing you work in -- it's a matter of whether you trust your employer to protect your interests (beyond protecting their own) if the doo-doo hits the fan. I do not. I worked as a hospital surveyor for my state and the Feds for several years, and saw, firsthand, in the course of investigating complaints against hospitals and suspicious deaths/injuries, many employers throw individual RNs under the bus in order to protect the facility -- this is what their attorneys (the ones who would also be advising you if you depend on your employer) tell them to do -- when it was often quite obvious, from reviewing the records and interviewing the parties involved, that the only thing the RN had done wrong was have the bad luck to be assigned to that particular client on that particular day ... The hospitals would single out one or more RNs they could "blame" for the incident, and then promptly fire them to show their good faith ("golly, we had no idea we had such a dangerous and incompetent nurse on our staff! We fired her as soon as we figured it out. 'cause we're doing everything we can to run a first-class operation here!") Guess what -- once Nurse X has been blamed and fired, she's no longer covered by the employer's insurance -- she's dangling in the wind by herself. If she doesn't already have her own coverage and the situation ends up with her needing legal representation, she'll have to pay the attorney out of pocket, because there is no way to get coverage after the fact for an incident that has already happened. And, if you ever find yourself in that situation, the first hour with an attorney will cost you a lot more than the annual insurance premium for the vast majority of RNs ...

My father was an MD and cautioned me while I was still in nursing school to never depend on an employer to protect me, and to never practice without my own, personal coverage. Everything I've seen in 25 years of practice since then has just reinforced to me what good advice that was.

Beyond what sirI has already discussed, personal liability coverage will also provide legal representation if you ever have to defend your license before the BON (which your employer probably would not), and provides coverage if you want to work as a volunteer somewhere (your church, local homeless shelter, disaster relief, etc.) -- which your employer's coverage definitely will not; you're only covered by your employer during the actual time you are working for them at their facility.

I'm another of those nurses that would never consider working a single day without my own coverage. I can't believe, after all these years, that there is still any discussion or controversy about the topic. ?

Excellent, elkpark.

Thank you...

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Specializes in Geriatric, long-term, home health, ICU.

I just started my first job as a RN. Thank you for reminding me of the importance of obtaining . I'm getting a quote today!

~Jenn~

2 Votes
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