Do I need Malpractice insurance?

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Wondering if it's necessary to get my own ? I'm a new-grad; and have no idea what to look for, amounts, coverages ect...

Any words of advice, recommended companies, ect would be great!

Thanks!

Well if we're basing on what a legal nurse consultant said, the great VM herself will tell you in her course that a malpractice attorney is going to name EVERYBODY so that those named can't point to someone not named as the culprit.

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Well if we're basing on what a legal nurse consultant said, the great VM herself will tell you in her course that a malpractice attorney is going to name EVERYBODY so that those named can't point to someone not named as the culprit.

I've never actually seen the paperwork myself, but I've had attorneys tell me that malpractice suits are now filed naming (literally), "Nurse Jane Doe A, Nurse Jane Doe B, Nurse Jane Doe C," etc., with the idea that they'll go back later and put the actual names in after they've figured out who, specifically, they're going to blame.

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Specializes in CCRN, ALS, BLS, PALS.

Ah yes, the "I'm perfect so it would never happen to me" rationale. People that make mistakes don't actually PLAN to make those mistakes. I've had to use my car insurance when I hit another driver. I didn't PLAN to do so. Still happened. Same with work. Especially in ever increasingly impossible patient ratios.

It's not about being perfect. It's about ensuring that I dont take any shortcuts. Everything at the hospital is made to where if you don't take shortcuts, you will be okay. Please give me an example of a time when I do everything according to policy, and the fault is still my own? In any case I can think of, I would be covered under the hospital as Lon as I don't take those shortcuts. Example- not scanning pt bracelets, asking name/date of birth, ensuring all call bells work and are close by, frequent pt rounds, chart checks..... Sounds to me like you are advocating for immunoglobulin when you should be advocating vaccine....(prevention)....

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Everything at the hospital is made to where if you don't take shortcuts, you will be okay.

That's what we strive for, but we're far from there yet.

Bracelet is on the wrong patient. You're in one room with a patient you can't leave, and a bed alarm goes off in another room and the patient falls. Don't have time for frequent patient rounds or chart checks because you're stuck in one room while the other room has the patient falling which leaves you with extra paperwork cleaning up that mess and so you fail to rescue in a third patient room.

Or just plain old screw up, you read something wrong, you miss that an order was stupid, you miss that your patient is going down the tubes. It happens. Even when you're careful.

Or you could do absolutely nothing wrong. But you get thrown under the bus anyway. And now have to pay an attorney to defend you in court or before the board. That happens too.

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Specializes in Cardiac, ER.

I've never had it,..probably never will. I have a very close friend who is a very good nurse, who is wishing right now that she didn't have it!! Out of 32 RN names on the chart, she is the only one with and the only RN named in the lawsuit. You can't tell me that is coincidental !

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Specializes in ICU, OR.

For the first few years I was a nurse I did not have it, because I was told that the hospital would pay any lawsuit costs. However, someone gave me a bit of advice once to get it since it was only $80 at the time. That if something happened OUTSIDE the hospital you would need it. Something as little as your neighbor asking advice about a cut on their finger or helping someone down on the sidewalk. Yes there are good samaritan laws but as far as medical advice, I stopped giving it and tell people to see their physician. Someone could sue me, since nurses can not diagnose.

After I got it, I realized I needed it to be an agency nurse, and a substitute school nurse. If you are ever hired as a contract employee to work anywhere it is required. So I have had it for a long time, never actually used it but definitely needed it in order to do my job.

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I agree.iam in trouble now. I did some thing which was practiced by experienced nurses and res. therapists. Policy was so old the hospital did not revisit and change it to exclude the original practice. It was re written after the incident. OfCourse the blame came to the nurse. That is me

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The risk management nurse said at my old hospital not to get it because rarely will anyone come after the nurse individually because there is not much to gain. Instead, they will go after the institution. I don't care, I still have it.

For the people that said only the nurses that have insurance get sued, that's why you don't broadcast to people you have it - for instance, you don't tell the patients it's ok if they want to sue because you have insurance. An older nurse once told me to get insurance but not tell anyone at the hospital you have it. I'm sure it could still be found out that you do, but don't put a target on your forehead.

I have it simply for the peace of mind because I am a huge worrywart.

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I've never had it,..probably never will. I have a very close friend who is a very good nurse, who is wishing right now that she didn't have it!! Out of 32 RN names on the chart, she is the only one with malpractice insurance and the only RN named in the lawsuit. You can't tell me that is coincidental !

Why do they even know she has it? It's not on any public record that you have MI.

Get it and don't tell anyone except your attorney, when/if you need to use it.

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The risk management nurse said at my old hospital not to get it because rarely will anyone come after the nurse individually because there is not much to gain.

Well she's certainly doing her job well, managing the risk for the HOSPITAL. :)

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Specializes in psych, addictions, hospice, education.

You can be sued for anything that happens, whether you did things totally correctly or not. That doesn't mean the one sue-ing you would win, but there would still be a suit. Your would pay for your lawyer. Lawyers cost a fortune. As others have said, the hospital could cut you loose if it's in their interests, and then you'd have no insurance.

Get your own. It's generally around $100. I wouldn't work without it. $100 per year compared to $thousands for a lawyer even when you are perfect....well...which sounds more logical, just in case?

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There are many threads here where someone will post some type of scenario (ie: "Should I stay and honor my contract after only 2 months of employment or quit and take a new job that I really want?") and ask for advice about what to do. Invariably, most of the responses advise to forget any loyalty to an employer and do what is best for the individual because the employer won't hesitate to do what is best for the facility.

So now, we have the vast majority advising to get insurance with one of the primary reasons being that employers will look out for THEIR best interest's over that of their employees, yet some refuse to understand the kind of gamble that this entails. Lives could literally be ruined for such "penny wise and pound foolish" thinking.

I will likely be facing this situation in the near future. I was served with a "notice of intent" recently. The case has nothing whatsoever to do with following policy, but has to do, in part, with the nurses' judgement that were involved in the case. This is something that can't be entirely covered by policy.

I never told a single person that I have MI. It's impossible to know with 100% certainty if I was named because I have insurance, but I highly doubt it because there are only 2 nurses and 1 doctor involved with the case and all are named. Even if I could be certain in this case that I was named because I have insurance, I would absolutely still choose to have insurance.

Yes, it will be a PIA to go through, but knowing that I won't be ruined financially by having to defend myself by spending thousands of dollars on an attorney, or not be able to defend myself because I can't afford an attorney, is well worth it. I will have peace of mind and be able to carry on with my daily life knowing that at the end of it I won't have to pay huge legal fees at the minimum, and I know that I can afford to defend my license if necessary.

In most cases, I tend to advise those seeking advice about honoring contracts (as in my example above) to do so with few exceptions. However, I don't feel that employers deserve blind loyalty, and when it comes to buying MI I am ALWAYS a proponent of the "hope for the best but prepare for the worst" philosophy.

To those who still choose to trust your employer with your livelihood, I pray that you never have to experience if that trust is misplaced.

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