Can labor nurses be sued by the babies?

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A nurse on my floor told me the other day that one downside of being a labor nurse is that the baby/family can sue you up until the baby is 18 for things that happened during labor.

Example she gave:

A mom calls up and says "You had to put oxygen on my baby 7 years ago. Do you remember why? Cause now Johnny is in 1st grade and has a hard time learning." And they can sue you.

Anyone know if this is actually true?!? I tried searching online for anything like that and couldn't find anything.

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

Yes, it is quite possible. Up to to the age of 18 plus 2 years statute of limitations. So, be sure you have adequate tail coverage with your .

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always chart, chart, chart

there is no way that you can remember what happen on every shift of work for your entire life

even if you have insurance they might be out of business in 18 years

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It's very true, and it's not just L&D, it's any area involving kids.

I work in child psych, and what I've always read/heard is that the parents can bring suit on the child's behalf, and then, when the child turns 18, the child has up to the limit established by the state statute of limitations (I believe 7 years is pretty standard) to sue on her/his own -- so, you're looking at a "window of opportunity" of 25 years.

Of course, all the required elements of malpractice would have to be present for there to be a cause of action, and RNs are much less likely to get sued than physicians.

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

Even if your insurance company should go out of business, if you have tail coverage with that company, you can transfer it to another company. Most will provide this transference. But, you must keep up all premiums throughout the years in order to have current/valid tail coverage, even if you are no longer in practice yourself.

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

It's up to each individual state as to the statute of limitations, but most are once child reaches 18, then add 2 years.

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Specializes in Oncology, Research.

Sure you could sue the nurse but most people wouldn't bother unless the nurse was clearly at fault. When patients sue they go after the hospitals and doctors since they have the money (large insurance policies).

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Wow! I never knew that!

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Dunno much about the nursing side, but from a physician standpoint, what's really devastating Ob/Gyn's in lawsuits is the manner that compensatory damages are calculated.

Think about it: I screw up a knee arthroplasty on someone's 70yo grandma and they die. Say I made a critical, forseeable error and committed malpractice. Now they go to figure out how much I owe. Well, grandma was 70, and retired, and worked one day a week at Walmart as a greeter. So the actual ecomonic damages of her death are going be pretty limited.

Now say I misdiagnose a fetal tracing, and Baby Boy Johnson has an anoxic brain injury. The plaintiff's attorney will stand up and tell everyone that this child could have been a doctor or CEO of a Fortune 500 company, and economists will come in to testify that his lifetime earnings would have been in excess of 10 million bucks. Whoops, now I'm on the hook for that, plus the cost of his care. And we haven't even talked about "pain and suffering" yet.

So yeah, I guess technically the "child" can sue you (or more accurately, the parents can sue on behalf of the child). But what kills you in court is that the younger the patient, the more economic damages they walk away with.

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