Should I Carry Malpractice (Liability) Insurance?

I don't have any statistics about the outcome of cases, but I can explain to you rationale the hospital uses -- when they first hired the nurse, they verified her/his licensure, checked her/his background to make sure there were no problems or concerns in the nurse's past practice, they put the nurse through an orientation program to verify that s/he was competent and introduce the nurse to how the hospital wants things done, and they provided a policy/procedure manual that spells out in detail exactly how they want the nurse to carry out each and every procedure performed in the course of the nurse's duties. They have done everything they could do to ensure that the nurse would be safe and competent to practice in their facility, short of assigning someone to follow her/him around all day, every day, and watch her/him at work, so how can they be blamed if the individual nurse suddenly decided one day to do something weird and dangerous? They've done everything they could reasonably do to ensure that that was unlikely to happen, and there is no way they could have forseen or prevented the nurse's action in this incident.

You've got to admit, that's a pretty compelling argument -- what else could the hospital have done? Also, keep in mind that, in civil suits, the standards are not "innocent until proven guilty" and "beyond a reasonable doubt" -- each plaintiff involved gets a chance to try to prove that the injury, whatever it was, wasn't its/her/his fault, and the standard the jury uses to arrive at a decision is "a preponderance of the evidence" (that is, >50% ...)

Again, I don't mean anything negative about employers when I say that, no matter how many times you're told "we're all family here," or whatever saccharine and meaningless cliché a facility chooses to use, your employer is not your friend. It's your employer -- that's just reality. If you trust your employer to protect your interests and professional future, you're in for disappointment, small or large, at some point in your career. Small disappointment is disappointing. Big disappointment might ruin your career and your future ...

Yes you should, becouse here in okla a lpn can do what every they want to and ge away with it and the Okla Nursing Board wont do anything about it, yes nurses can do things wrong like file false reports to the hospital and file patient record under Jane Doe O and by the way the Jane Doe was his 12 yr old daughter that hurt her arm at his house on his weekend visit and would not take her to see a Dr about it and hegot fired from tht hospital and do other things and yet the board wont do anything about it and yes I did file with the board and 5 months later nothing has been done and no witness have been contacted and when I call the Okla Nursing Board they wont tell me anything, why why why?????

My opinion is that if you work in a clinical area, you must since the lawsuit in this area are higher thatn a nurse that works in a insurance or office job.

When I was working in California early in my nursing career, an inservice about malpractise insurance/legal liabilities was given. Upon finding out that the hospital lawyers wouldn't necessarily defend me too, in a lawsuit, I also filled out the card in the front of RN magazine (in the early '70s), and carried it throughout my career!

However, I've never heard how the service was, when it was needed. Has anyone needed to put it to the test?

I have been actively in nursing for 39 years and have never had malpractice insurance.

I've never had to use my homeowner's insurance in the 25 years I've owned my house, but I still purchase it each year ...

I reside and went to school in Ohio. I was informed that the college *I* went to had an excellent malpractice insurance they take out for all of their students. I was then told, "If you don't get insurance after your done with school, you're an idiot.

Just having the peace of mind if the chance came up is enough for me to pay the $90/year fee. I don't care if I don't use it in my entire career - I do my job as best as I can and with as much care as I can pull out of my soul ... the saying **** happens is true, and it's just like driving the car. You never know what can happen... You can be driving along, minding your own business, and *POP!* your tire falls off and you're in oncoming traffic.

I'd like to know the source of your information. If it was a doctor crying in his/her "beer", forget that!

When malpractise litigators file their cases, they grab everyone within eye or " ear shot" of the happening. What's in a nurse's pockets may not seem like much to the "heavy hitters", but whatever you have will be taken anyway - which for you, will be a lot!

I sure hope that in your line of nursing, you have the highest insurance for malpractise that you can get....... and lots of other resources for income.

SirI,
I am half way through NP school--and have some questions I would like to ask you via email. Would you be willing to share that? Thanks so much.....