l&d and malpractice

rn/writer, RN · Oct 28, 2011

Something that I forgot to mention that relates directly to this thread is that if you have your own policy, it should protect you for lawsuits concerning any events that took place during the time that you were covered. The hospital policy will only cover you while you are employed with them! If you move to another employer or retire, the company has no incentive to take care of you and may not even be allowed to legally, as you are no longer part of their organization.

L&D is one of the most litigious areas of malpractice suits. And, as mentioned, the complaints may not be brought to light for a long time. How many of us will move, change employers or retire before there is no chance of further litigation?

$90-$120 a year is peanuts for the protection of having your own policy. As I said earlier, that amount probably wouldn't cover a single hour of legal services if you had to pay out of pocket.

lawyerreader · Oct 29, 2011

Whoa whoa whoa! I signed up for this site just to respond to this. This is absolutely, 100% incorrect:

"First, who has insurance and how much indemnity they carry is not part of discovery. The other side has no right to this information at any time, so this tired cliche about deciding whom to sue based on their insurance is unlikely unless a nurse walks around bragging about her policy."

Uh, yes, that info is discoverable. Nurses are sued less often than doctors for this very reason.

NicuGal, MSN, RN · Nov 2, 2011

Oh and I forgot to mention....that child involved in this case is now 22 years old...the suit was brought up right before his 18th birthday and it took almost 4 years for it to go to court. So, think about that for a bit....and all you have is your charting to back you up because, honestly, who can remember exactly what happened 22 years ago?? And you wouldn't believe what the lawyers know about you....they know a lot!

elkpark · Nov 2, 2011

Oh and I forgot to mention....that child involved in this case is now 22 years old...the suit was brought up right before his 18th birthday and it took almost 4 years for it to go to court. So, think about that for a bit....and all you have is your charting to back you up because, honestly, who can remember exactly what happened 22 years ago?? And you wouldn't believe what the lawyers know about you....they know a lot!

I recall discussing in class in my graduate program in child psych that peds (and L&D) is particularly tricky in this regard because there are always two statutes of limitations -- the parents have seven years (or however long the time frame may be in a particular state for a particular type of situation) after an event to bring suit on the child's behalf, and then the "clock" starts all over again when the child turns 18, and the child then has however many years to bring suit on her/his own behalf. You can end up in court over something that happened 20 or more years ago.

Just another reason why most people don't want to work in peds or OB. :)

rn/writer, RN · Nov 2, 2011

Whoa whoa whoa! I signed up for this site just to respond to this. This is absolutely, 100% incorrect:
"First, who has insurance and how much indemnity they carry is not part of discovery. The other side has no right to this information at any time, so this tired cliche about deciding whom to sue based on their insurance is unlikely unless a nurse walks around bragging about her policy."
Uh, yes, that info is discoverable. Nurses are sued less often than doctors for this very reason.

I will amend my statement to say that under some circumstances a person may be required to disclose their insurance information. It would be discoverable during the penalty phase of a trial after fault has been found. Another example would be to determine the specifics of a joint or group policy where the defendants end up being de facto opponents when the practice is sued. If a nurse has coverage through her homeowner's policy, there could be questions if she shares this policy with a spouse.

What is not allowed, at least in my state, is a fishing expedition to see who has "deep pockets." The plaintiff's attorneys have to show a need for this information beyond finding a juicy orange to squeeze.