Can nursing student be sued by patient?

CT Pixie, BSN, RN · May 7, 2008

The patient that was endangered can sue the hospital, the clinical instructor AND the student.

And yes, the school of nursing that the student attends will probably kick that student out of the program.

Several companies offer student nurse insurance for exactly that reason.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · May 7, 2008

if a nursing student makes a mistake that endangers the patient, can the patient sue the student

yes

or do they just sue the hospital

yes, they can just sue the hospital

with the nursing school just kicking out the student?

yes, if the hospital gets sued or not, they can decide to "kick out" the student (deny them privileges to do their clinicals in their facility)

or can the hospital sue the student?

yes, the hospital can also sue a student if the student caused them some sort of monetary damage. anyone can sue anyone. the thing is, however, is it in the best interest of the hospital to sue a student? their lawyer(s) will advise them to weigh the advantages of it against the disadvantages.

in most cases people sue and the only reward for winning is a money settlement for damages. so, the job of the lawyers is to discover who has the most money and file the lawsuit against those persons or insurance companies. but sometimes someone does something so hurtful or acts like such a jerk about what they have done that the people who have been wronged just want to make a point and will sue them just for the satisfaction and humiliation it will cause the wrongdoer knowing that they will probably never be able to collect any money damages from them. but, it sure ruins their life. look at how oj simpson has had to hide his assets from the goldman family.