Nurses Liability Insurance: Yes or No

[Joe V]

"I don't need it, Nurses are never or hardly ever sued". So, does the Nurse actually need Liability Insurance? If so, why?

A couple of questions that should be considered while making this decision would be: "Would my policy provide an attorney to defend me and reimburse me if I incurred costs ... and, "Would my policy include coverage for any disciplinary action taken by the Board of Nursing?"

What do you think?

Does the Nurse really need his or her personal liability insurance?

Do you have one? And, if so, what was the main reason you obtained a policy?

[Guest957596]

NSO for sure.

[EdieBrous, BSN, MSN]

This is a very common misperception:

"Did I have professional Liability Insurance? Not a dime's worth of it. It made me a very unattractive target even for a nuisance suit as you can't get blood out of a rock."

It is not true that you can't be harmed if you have no insurance.  Your assets can be seized, your wages can be garnished, and unsatisfied judgments can cause licensure discipline. Being uninsured will not prevent you from being named in a suit.  Most importantly, you need insurance for things that happen off the job, and for licensure defense., which 62 x more likely than being named in a suit and that is your entire livelihood.  Spend the $2.00 a week. 

[Gooday]

I have been a nurse since 1995 and worked in the medical field prior to becoming a nurse.  I always believed it was not necessary but now I believe it’s essential.   I started working at a hospital were the state was investigating the facility.  They were way understaffed, all the managers had quit.  If I had known about what going on I would not have taken the job.   Once I took the job I couldn’t quit because I’m old school and don’t believe in breaking a promise.  For about 2 weeks I was terrified.   I got Liability Insurance the day I started and it helped with the anxiety,  I didn’t feel like I was all alone.    

[Davey Do]

Ho boy.

I had Liability Insurance for the first 20 years of my nursing career, used their services twice around 2002 and neither episode came out to my advantage. Both are long stories, but I'll try to give the Reader's Digest versions:

In the first scenario, at a community mental health,  I overheard a non-licensed staff member, a secretary, give out med samples to a client without a physician's order.  I confronted the secretary and set the situation straight, but contacted my insurance's JD RN to make sure that I had covered all the bases, and was informed the secretary needed to be terminated.

I informed administration of the JD RN's recommendation, the secretary was terminated, as was I two weeks later. My termination was unfair as evidenced by an IDES determination.

In the second scenario,  I was attacked by a family member two days after I had surgery for the removal of a cancerous colon polyp. Blood was exchanged due to open wounds on both of us. I informed the family member of a recent life saving attempt as the first responder at an MVA where I had been exposed to the victim's blood both in my eyes and mouth.

I said, "I've had a potential exposure to blood born pathogens, and now we both have. In other words, if I was exposed to AIDS, now you have been exposed!"

Even though the family member had attacked me, he called the police and told them that I had said something along the lines of, "I've got AIDS and now you've got AIDS!"

The police were going to charge me with a felony, that due to my need to get medical attention, was dropped to a misdemeanor. I had criminal charges of assault and battery against me when the family member brought a $50,000 civil suit against me.

My homeowners insurance paid the legal fees and the case eventually went to trial. While preparing for the case, I told my lawyer that I had informed the family member of the possible blood borne pathogen exposure because it was my duty as a medical professional. (Yeah, I know- to terrorize him, also.) I suggested that the nurses liability insurance company also be involved.

My lawyer contacted the liability insurance company and they responded with cited quotes from the plaintiff's disposition, never interviewed me, and refused involvement.

I let my insurance lapse, and for the remaining 15 plus years of my career saved over $1500 by not giving my money to them.

[EdieBrous, BSN, MSN]

Being uninsured does not protect you from being named in a suit. It is not true that you can't get blood out of a rock.  Unsatisfied judgments can seize your assets, freeze your bank account, garnish your wages, and cause licensure discipline. Nurses are 62 times more likely to be investigated by their licensing board then they are to be named in a malpractice suit. Employer policies do not cover you for anything off the job or for nursing board discipline.  That is why you need to spend $2.00/week for a policy.

[EdieBrous, BSN, MSN]

Ho Boy - Professional Liability Insurance does not cover you for either of the cases you described.  Those policies cover you for being named in a malpractice suit or for being investigated by your licensing board.  They "refused involvement" because that's not what they were insuring you for. That $1,500 you have saved will only cover a few hours of legal representation if your license is being investigated so I suggest that you rethink your decision.

[9kidsmomRN]

On 8/17/2017 at 3:09 PM, brownbook said:

is so easy for a hospital to find a paragraph, policy, procedure, that is really stupid and picky, that shows you did not exactly follow the protocol when you harmed a patient. Even if every nurse has been doing the exact same thing for years. Therefore the hospital's attorneys will not advocate for you. They will advise you to get your own attorney.

Exactly! This is why insurance is a must. Our nurses have begged for our legal department to help educate us for years as to what needs documentation and what does not. We have a huge double standard of chart by exception/ not charted is not done. I wrote up a list of unit expectations for our new hires to help them understand unit based standards of care, but this can also be a liability if not followed for every patient. We are stuck in the middle. I don’t think legal wants us to be wise to what they will look for WHEN there is a lawsuit. Then you can’t protect yourself. If you made a mistake ( or simply did not document correctly) the hospital will turn around and sue YOU!

[9kidsmomRN]

On 8/22/2017 at 11:43 AM, Guest957596 said:

NSO for sure.

Me too