Glad I got malpractice insurance

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I was having dinner with my wife at IHOP last night, and in the booth behind us a couple was having an interesting conversation. I didn't hear the whole story since I was having my own conversation with my wife, but the guy behind us had some weird things to say to the person he was with. Seems he was talking about something he saw while he was in the ER. A lady there was crying and he was talking to her, she said her husband had just died, they did some kind of procedure on him after an emergency and he didn't survive. He asked her what they did, and after she told him he went on to tell her how they did all the wrong things. They should have done this and that and your husband would have lived. She asked him how he knows all this stuff he went on to tell her that he didn't know anything about medicine but "I know how the human body works." He advised her to sue everybody involved and she now is. I couldn't tell you what exactly he was talking about, it was about 1 am in the morning and I don't remember exactly what he said, but I do remember that I was thinking "What a trip, he has no clue what he is talking about." Even if you are a biology major and know all about how the human body works by itself does not mean you know anything about pharmacology and how these medicines act on the body and why they work like they do.

Just listening to these self-declared experts of the human body and all their medical training they recieved from "ER" and watching TLC and Discovery Channel reminded me that my is almost up, time to send them my annual $100 and sleep good at night.

Specializes in ICU, CM, Geriatrics, Management.
No one will sue you if you don't have insurance. Can't loose your home/future earnings. Attorneys don't do that...

Yeah, this is true... in Dreamland. :)

Specializes in ICU, CM, Geriatrics, Management.
... Can't an attorney... put a lein against your earnings if you are found guilty?...

Why not?

Also can reach any assets -- home equity, vehicles, bank accounts, investments, retirement savings, valuables, etc.-- in your / your spouse's names.

Specializes in ICU, CM, Geriatrics, Management.
... if that situation would crop up today that this wouldn't even make it to court because it is a 'frivolous' lawsuit...

Lots of kooky lawsuits out there.

Every nurse, everywhere should have their own . I don't know what dreamland one would live in to think that if one doesn't have insurance, one can't be sued. If one is involved in a law suit and the hospital 'covers' your defense, they may sue you to reimburse them if the suit has an unfavorable outcome. Nurses who think the hospital will take care of them are dead wrong. I have never, in my 30 years, been involved in any kind of liability difficulty but I do many things that put me in an independent role..ie: teaching CPR, Camp Nursing, forensic nursing, assisting family, friends and neighbors. Knowing that a hospital won't 'take care of me' makes it easy to write that check every year.

Cari4n6

Ya'll get your insurance if it helps you sleep at night, as mentioned. Me...I'll let respondeat superior and the deep pockets theories rule...which means my employer and/or doctor IS ultimately responsible in most cases, if I'm doing my job correctly. Nurses have been suckered into carrying in my state...and guess what??? Nurses are now getting sued...AND our malpractice insurance rates are 3-4 times as high as other states. Just some food for thought.

I believe employers like for us to carry insurance so they can turf more liability to us. I choose not to go down this road. And I have never been named in a suit; although my employers have. I still believe my notification of superiors, good documentation and my committment to my patient's welfare is the most important deterrant to a personal lawsuit against ME.

Carrying insurance is every nurses' personal decision to make...and we have no right to put down another nurses' decision either way IMO.

Yeah I suppose its possible for an attorney to go after a lone nurses' personal life...take her house, car, etc...but it is highly unlikely IMO. I don't know of anyone this has happened to in my 30 some years in healthcare. Wronged patients with PI attorneys will go after the facility or the doctors before they go after a lone uninsured nurse...and my nurse attorney is in full agreement with this by the way.

MattsMom... you are so right.

So many nurses, so many years of experience..

and, how many have lost their home, car, earnings???

NONE.

Gee, wonder why?

You must mean that YOU know of no one who has lost all to a lawsuit.

I think that is wonderful but I prefer not to view life through rose colored glasses and I maintain my policy...my car insurance...home owner's insurance, business insurance and fire and earthquake insurance. There are thousands and thousands of lawsuits that are filed every day and many may be deemed as frivilous but nevertheless they go to trial and must be defended against. Whether they be for a nursing incident or a car crash. That costs lots of money.

The reason is high, in some states, is because so many nurses are being sued, not because they have insurance. That's looking at things backwards. If you work in a hospital, you know that your patients do not intend to get sick or injured. Yet, patients continue to come into hospitals and many have no insurance.

Just another perspective.

Cari

No one is viewing life through rose-colored glasses. But I can safely say that NO ONE reading this has been a party in a malpractice lawsuit, or known of a case of a nurse who has. No one.

If someone wishes to prove me wrong, I invite them to bring out names, dates, details, etc. (all of which are public record).

I'll be waiting.

Jim Huffman, RN

Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Mr. Huffman - few people are going to say things on a public BB like you request - at least I hope not.

Specializes in Public Health, DEI.
No one is viewing life through rose-colored glasses. But I can safely say that NO ONE reading this has been a party in a malpractice lawsuit, or known of a case of a nurse who has. No one.

If someone wishes to prove me wrong, I invite them to bring out names, dates, details, etc. (all of which are public record).

I'll be waiting.

Jim Huffman, RN

These details are not public record if an out of court settlement including a non-disclosure agreement was reached.

Specializes in ICU, CM, Geriatrics, Management.
... NO ONE reading this has been a party in a malpractice lawsuit, or known of a case of a nurse who has...

Oh yeah, that must be cause attorneys never sue individuals, as claimed by another poster.

Once again, no one brings forth any kind of concrete information.

I keep wondering: if this "problem" is so widespread as the hysteriacs claim, why does no one seem to have any concrete examples of them?

I'm beginning to believe that the epidemic of nurses-being-sued is on the order of alien abductions: perhaps it HAS occurred once or twice in history, but don't bet the farm on it.

I have no ax to grind on this matter. If people WANT to increase their chances of being sued (by holding a malpractice policy), that's their business. Likewise, if people want to buy a lottery ticket, buy it. Either one is -- at best -- a statistically huge waste of money.

But -- on second thought -- buy the lottery ticket. It's far less of a waste of money than the "malpractice" insurance, which is, in reality, a device for taking $100 or so from neurotic nurses every year.

Jim Huffman, RN

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