Just got off the witness stand

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Specializes in ER, CCU, Vascular Access.

I recently testified in a personal injury case. It was quite an experience! A claim of a patient's family that she was injured by a cot that fell over and hurt her foot. It sounded like BS but after prepping for the case I started to think I may have done something wrong. The jury didn't think so and she got nothing.

This taught me an important lesson though. No matter how minor something seems, keep a good record of what happened. This incident was almost 9 years ago! I've forgotten a lot of useless stuff since then.

It would be interesting to hear other nurses experiences with the legal system

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glad you won; nine years?

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Specializes in L&D, QI, Public Health.
I recently testified in a personal injury case. It was quite an experience! A claim of a patient's family that she was injured by a cot that fell over and hurt her foot. It sounded like BS but after prepping for the case I started to think I may have done something wrong. The jury didn't think so and she got nothing.

This taught me an important lesson though. No matter how minor something seems, keep a good record of what happened. This incident was almost 9 years ago! I've forgotten a lot of useless stuff since then.

It would be interesting to hear other nurses experiences with the legal system

Wow, ten years ago? ridiculous! I don't know if it was the court system or the plaintiff that delayed this process, but it makes you conscious of the importance of documentation and following hospital policy.

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yeah i remember staff being reminded constantly by my manager the importance of charting because like they say if you dont chart it then it means it didn't happen. that concept still frightens me. and how 10 years from now a lawsuit could come up and you wont have any recollection of it. you could be blind sided basically! but there is only so much you can think ahead! one time a pt complained to my manager that on night rounds she asked for help to the br and i refused to help her because she wasnt my pt?! i didn't even step foot in that room all night and of course i would help her if she asked regardless of if she was my pt!! but somehow she got my name and i got a huge lecture from my then manager .... so bogus!

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

Litigation is something that personally frightens me. It is unrealistic for healthcare facilities and attorneys to expect nursing staff to remember meticulous details regarding an incident that occurred several years previously.

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Litigation is something that personally frightens me. It is unrealistic for healthcare facilities and attorneys to expect nursing staff to remember meticulous details regarding an incident that occurred several years previously.

They don't expect you to remember! It's a game, or chess match, between attorneys from opposing sides. One is out to make $$$$ for himself and if there is any $$$ left over, for his client. The other attorney is out there to save $$$$ but at the same time make as much for himself as he can, billing the insurance company an hourly rate. It's not about the patient (client)!

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma.
They don't expect you to remember! It's a game, or chess match, between attorneys from opposing sides. One is out to make $$$$ for himself and if there is any $$$ left over, for his client. The other attorney is out there to save $$$$ but at the same time make as much for himself as he can, billing the insurance company an hourly rate. It's not about the patient (client)!

They don't expect you to remember it. It should be in the chart. It has always been beat through my head how important documentation is. I hope I am never in this situation but I also hope if I am my documentation will back me up.

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Specializes in medicine and psychiatry.

What a rat race!:eek:

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It's just another example of how important it is to document and be sure to fill out reports as needed. Sounds like you handled things well. Bravo!!

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.
yeah i remember staff being reminded constantly by my manager the importance of charting because like they say if you dont chart it then it means it didn't happen. that concept still frightens me. and how 10 years from now a lawsuit could come up and you wont have any recollection of it. you could be blind sided basically! but there is only so much you can think ahead! one time a pt complained to my manager that on night rounds she asked for help to the br and i refused to help her because she wasnt my pt?! i didn't even step foot in that room all night and of course i would help her if she asked regardless of if she was my pt!! but somehow she got my name and i got a huge lecture from my then manager .... so bogus!

That's why I hated the paper charting system at my clinical site: Simply wasn't enough room to adequately document. And, it was chart-by-exception. Give me a keyboard and database any day.

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I am fresh out of school and into a new job (PCU). One of my biggest worries is what is going to happen if one of my pts dosen't do well, and the family is looking for compensation. Are they going to search for anything that may have caused it and pin it on me because I forgot to chart that I turned them every two hours, or something minor? We chart by exception at my hospital but we still do individual notes on every thing from their sneezes to their hair blowing the wrong way, to telling them how to use the call bell every shift. The fear is sometimes overwhelming. And it makes it worse because we have pts on the floor who should be in ICU but for insurance reasons they push them out to us or don't transefer them in a timely mannner so we have more critical pts but limited time to take care of them because of 5-6 pt to nurse ratio. Lord help us all.

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Specializes in ER, Peds ER.
They don't expect you to remember! It's a game, or chess match, between attorneys from opposing sides. One is out to make $$$$ for himself and if there is any $$$ left over, for his client. The other attorney is out there to save $$$$ but at the same time make as much for himself as he can, billing the insurance company an hourly rate. It's not about the patient (client)!

Isn't this the truth. My sister, who's now a substance abuse counselor, interned at a law firm thinking she wanted to go to law school because she wanted to help people. Then she realized that 95% of lawyer are just simple out to make money for themselves. And how screwed up our judicial system is.

Even with charting how anyone can expect you to remember exact details of something that happened 9, 10 years ago is just absurd. I believe there should be limitation and time frames placed on everything. It shouldn't take 9 years for a personal injury case to finally make it to court.

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