Do I need Insurance?

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I'm a new RN, and I'll be starting work next Monday at a Family Practice (1st job). Do you think I would need ? If so, what is a good company to get it from?

Get your own insurance. It is pretty inexpensive and well worth having. Don't tell patients, employer, etc. that you have it. I wouldn't work a second without it.

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Specializes in PCU, Critical Care, Observation.

The only nurses I've ever seen personally sued in a medical setting are those that had . I'm with those who say no liability insurance = no lawsuit.

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The only nurses I've ever seen personally sued in a medical setting are those that had liability insurance. I'm with those who say no liability insurance = no lawsuit.

I would have several questions regarding this notion.

* Is disclosure of insurance required? (Please give link to independent confirmation if answering, ie statute).

* If not, then how would an antagonist be so informed of the presence of a policy?

My line of thinking being, that if one need not disclose and simply await a subpoena, then this theory is likely speculative in nature.

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I don't believe that having no insurance automatically lets you off the hook. Let's say that something really bad happened to your loved one while in the hospital and it's because of a nurse's very obvious mistake, so you hire an attorney-----the attorney finds out that the nurse doesn't have a hefty professional and says "oh Jennerizer, I discovered that nurse x has no money and no insurance, let's just get her off the hook, anyway she doesn't have money". As a patient's relative, you think you'll accept that? Of course not, you will still pursue the case I'm sure, to get what you can and have some justice. Remember, they can also garnish your wages. I know of a nurse who is in TX and it happened to her!

The only nurses I've ever seen personally sued in a medical setting are those that had liability insurance. I'm with those who say no liability insurance = no lawsuit.
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I don't believe that having no insurance automatically lets you off the hook. Let's say that something really bad happened to your loved one while in the hospital and it's because of a nurse's very obvious mistake, so you hire an attorney-----the attorney finds out that the nurse doesn't have a hefty professional liability insurance and says "oh Jennerizer, I discovered that nurse x has no money and no insurance, let's just get her off the hook, anyway she doesn't have money". As a patient's relative, you think you'll accept that? Of course not, you will still pursue the case I'm sure, to get what you can and have some justice. Remember, they can also garnish your wages. I know of a nurse who is in TX and it happened to her!

As the patient's relative, you wiould have to accept that. What are your other options? You cannot "tell" a med mal attorney to go after her, unless you are willing to pay him up to $450 an hour, plus expenses, to be paid in advance, totaling hundreds, maybe thousands of hours. To get what--may be a few hundred dollars a week on a wage garnishment? You would never be able to recoup what was paid out. Then you'd have to foot the bill for all the expert witnesses, which totaled over $150,000 in my case. Most people dont't have that kind of money laying around. Med mal attorneys make sure all their ducks are in row before they take a case, no matter how grave the error was. No money means they run the other direction!

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In a society that likes to take legal action, I don't think you'll be off the hook just like that. If one attorney says no, there are thousands of other attorneys who could say yes and fight for that case.

As the patient's relative, you wiould have to accept that. What are your other options? You cannot "tell" a med mal attorney to go after her, unless you are willing to pay him up to $450 an hour, plus expenses, to be paid in advance, totaling hundreds, maybe thousands of hours. To get what--may be a few hundred dollars a week on a wage garnishment? You would never be able to recoup what was paid out. Then you'd have to foot the bill for all the expert witnesses, which totaled over $150,000 in my case. Most people dont't have that kind of money laying around. Med mal attorneys make sure all their ducks are in row before they take a case, no matter how grave the error was. No money means they run the other direction!
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My instinct tells me that the likely best benefit derived from insurance for a nurse, is legal defense in a disciplinary action where muddying the waters may be successful. Gross negligence (in most circumstances) is for the most part, indefensible.

This statement is purely speculative on my part.

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In order to determine who is involved in a case or not...both attorneys involved in the case do what is called "discovery", where they attempt to discover the facts--this holds true in all types of law. During this process, they subpoena ALL of said patients medical records. As medical records come into the office, they are reviewed and collated into chronological order and reviewed by a nurse that works for the attorney. They are then scoured for EVERY SINGLE name, and a list is compiled for safe keeping. The records are then sent out to other medical professionals, also called "experts" in the case and they are reviewed. It is at that time, that the attorney, nurse and expert decide if any of the extraneous names need to be brought in for deposition or questioning. None of these people are privy to any information about who has what insurance, etc. If your name is anywhere on a medical record, there is a possibility that you could be implicated in a case somewhere. A good attorney will subpoena EVERY SINGLE medical record that exists all the way back to birth records if they still exist to help defend or prosecute his/her case. Nobody knows or cares how much money you have backing you...if you don't feel that you need insurance--by all means, don't waste your $100 per year--but if your license is ever on the line...I hope that you don't come back to these message boards looking for advice...because you've already gotten it--

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In a society that likes to take legal action, I don't think you'll be off the hook just like that. If one attorney says no, there are thousands of other attorneys who could say yes and fight for that case.

There are not thousands of med mal attorneys out there. Med mal is a highly specialized field due to its complexity, and med mal attorneys do only med mal. Their numbers are small and few and far in between.

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I am involved in a case currently where the hospital I work for is being sued and I was the primary nurse. I'm not personally named in the suit. Anyway I asked the lawyer about this while I was meeting with him. He said as long as I don't do work outside the hospital I don't need it. I feel very comfortable with the way he is handling this case, advising me, backing me, ect. He said having insurance would just give me another lawyer who would be doing the exact same thing he is. In sense I would have two people representing me and that actually could make things more complicated. I asked what if I personally was being named and he said it would be the same. If I lose the hospital loses. If my name is in the paper and news so is the hospitals. It is in the hospitals best interest for me to win any suit.

He did say it might make a difference in states that don't have caps on suits. He said if the hospital covered me for a million and my insurance covered me for a million that extra million might matter. In my state no one can sue for that much so it's null.

I've never had insurance but I've often debated getting it. He made me comfortable with my decision not to.

I was advised very early on in my career to get my own insurance because there are cases that the hospital may not back you up.

The cost of is not much and is paid annually. Although I never had to use it yet, I feel better knowing that I'm still covered in case the hospital decides not to cover me. Each case of law suit is different, and I don't want to take a chance.

Good luck to you... though this may be an old post of yours that no longer applies to present.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.
The only nurses I've ever seen personally sued in a medical setting are those that had liability insurance. I'm with those who say no liability insurance = no lawsuit.

When I graduated from nursing school, in May 2008, a local newspaper had a story about a family that felt their grandmother was being neglected by a nursing home. They story didn't detail the charges. Since they signed an arbitration agreement when Grandma was admitted, they couldn't sue the nursing home, so they sued all 8 of the nurses.

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