hi. i'm a new nurse :0). my question is regarding malpractice coverage.
1.
i'm planning on purchasing insurance from nso, but will they keep my information private? i've heard people say that if you have your own policy you're more likely to be named in a suit. is this true? how could a lawyer even know i have my own coverage? what is your advice regarding this? is there a company that keeps your info private? how can i keep my info private? i certainly don't want to be someone's meal ticket.
2. the plan i'm thinking of going with is nso's 1,000,000/6,000,000 aggregate. is this a good plan?
Kasha: Unless you are practicing in some independent role, you don't need the insurance. Check with your employer and see what coverage they provide. Usually, you are an agent of your employer and they cover. tomt
WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!!!
The employer will cover you to a certain point, and only if they feel that you will not be a liability. If a pt sues the hospital, the doctor, and the nurse, and the nurse's actions would almost gaurantee a win for the pt, you think the hospital's not going to offer you up as a sacrifice??? The hospital has its own best interests in mind, not yours. The only way they will back you up is if you truly did absolutely nothing wrong.
I carried my own insurance from 1968 to 1989. I was sued twice. First time I was named as part of a shotgun approach where the attorney named everyone whose name was in the chart. I was dropped from the suit after three months but I was happy to have my ownattorney. The second time, I was named in 1989 when an attorney claimed I was negilent because I did not pay for a client's last semester in college. I again had my own attorney. One year later the suit was dismissed with prejudice. This means the attorney could not refile. The small amount I paid yearly was worth it. I would have been named in both cases, been defended by my employer's attorney, with their interest placed above mine. No one knows if you have insurance unless you tell them. My advice, don't share the information until you are sued.
Woody
Please, please elaborate. You were working as a nurse and were sued for not paying a client' s college. Huh?
Specializes in icu, er, transplant, case management, ps.
Please, please elaborate. You were working as a nurse and were sued for not paying a client' s college. Huh?
In a past life I worked as a major case manager. There were vocational duties included. The client had reach MMI and could not return to the type of teaching she had previously done. I recommended that she return to USF and seek another certifcation in a different subject. She did and the insurance company paid her tution, fees and books. While she was in college, her insurance company closed it's Tampa office and transfer every file to Orlando. The adjuster that was assirned to her was an idiot andfool. She delay paying her college bills. When we closed our file she was close to finishing her program but the insurance company failed to pay her bills. I sent a certified, registered letter to her, her attorney, the adjuster and USF. I told them that for her to receive the credits that had to pay her bill at USF.
After I closed her file, I never gave it a second thought. I was very surpised, in 1989 when I received notification that I was being sued for failure to paY her tution bill. Her attorney had seetled her case with the insurance compaby for $35, 000, a very poor settlement considering her earning prior to her injury. He then decided that he would sue me, as an individual and the company I worked for, failure to pay her tutiomn. I was very happy that I had the type of insurance that paid out for past mistakes, when you were no longer able to work. My attorney had to work for a year filing motions. At a pretrial hearing made a motion to dismiss, stating I was not contractually obligated to pay her bill and had notifed all parties with my certified registered letter. The judge agree and the case was dismissed with prejudice.
I might add that her attorney was a sleeze. During the 80s, he served six months for drug pocesition. And he deserved every minute of it. He had advised a client of mine, that he not attend the classes we and registered him for. When I meant with the client, I told him that his failure to attend could result in a stop of his payments. The insurance company did and he was hauled to a hearing trying to get me and the insurance company in trouble. It didn't work and the client was cut off from any further benefits.
I one had a client who found out where I live and came to my condo with a gun, after he was notified that he would receive only$15,00o. The judge cited my work and the failures of the client as the reason for the decision. To put it mildly, I called the cops and also had them call the cops in FT Myers for another case manager who had assisted me. He was arrested, tried and served over 15 years in a Florida state prision.
Who ever said that case management was not exciting never worked wth some of the people I did.
Anyone who thinks their employer (especially a hospital or LTC) is looking out for them is being naive. All you gotta do is read some of the threads here to figure that out lol.
A hundred dollars a year? That's worth my peace of mind.
The other part of this is controlling your destiny. If you rely on the hospital policy make sure that it does not allow them to settle for you without your consent. Any settlements are part of the National Provider Data Bank and stay on your record. If you have your own insurance then you control whether you settle or not.
There's another aspect to individual liability coverage that doesn't always get mentioned (but should). It is true that, statistically, the chance that you as a registered nurse will ever be named in a malpractice suit is extremely slim. However, all the standard nursing liability policies include coverage for legal representation if you are called before your state BON to defend your license for any reason, and representation if you are called as a witness (against someone else) in a malpractice suit. Either of those situations is much more likely to happen over the course of your career than you being sued, and you would certainly want to have legal representation in either case.
Once a situation has arisen (by the time you first think, "oooh, I'm gonna need an attorney!"), there is no insurance company on the planet that will sell you coverage for an incident that has already happened, and just the first hour of consultation with an attorney would cost you more out of pocket than the annual premium for coverage for a generalist RN.
I've never worked a single day without my own coverage, and would never consider doing so. My father, an MD, advised me back when I was in nursing school (in the Dark Ages :)) to never depend on a hospital to protect me in a crunch, and (therefore) never practice without my own insurance, and everything I've seen in the 20+ years I've been practicing since then has only reinforced to me what excellent advice that was.
TazziRN, RN
6,487 Posts
WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!!!
The employer will cover you to a certain point, and only if they feel that you will not be a liability. If a pt sues the hospital, the doctor, and the nurse, and the nurse's actions would almost gaurantee a win for the pt, you think the hospital's not going to offer you up as a sacrifice??? The hospital has its own best interests in mind, not yours. The only way they will back you up is if you truly did absolutely nothing wrong.
Get your own policy and never let it lapse.