Lawsuit-- you're needed in court, but you've moved to another state?

[nervousnurse, ASN]

Hi, I've been wondering what happens if a lawsuit comes up, you're needed in court, but you've moved far away, OR you haven't moved, but you have a new job and it would be difficult to get the time off to attend court?

It's NOT happening to me, I was just remembering a time a patient wanted to sue 2 years after she was a patient with us. I hated the grueling "interview" I had to go through....(or whatever they call it, it was NOT a deposition, but there were 2 lawyers, our Risk Mgmt. person, and me).....

ANYWAY, one of the nurses who took care of this patient for MANY shifts had since moved very far away. Had this gone to court, would this nurse be required to travel to attend court? Who would pay their travel/ hotel/ meals/ rental car? What about thier new employer? I assume they'd let the nurse off for as long as the court time took? Again, really just curious......I always wonder about details like this.

P.S....the GREAT thing is, this case never made it beyond them questioning us---not even an official deposition, no nothing! Yipppeee!!! Bye bye, frivolous attempted lawsuit!!!

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

If you are a defendant the hospital flies you in and puts you up in a hotel. They can also do video conference for depositions.

If you are summoned to court your place of employment has to accommodate this or you could be held in contempt of court.

The longest I was in a courtroom was 2 weeks, my unit was drowning , but they had to let me go.

[dishes, BSN, RN]

Yes, the nurse would be required to attend court. If a nurse is subpoened to court they are compelled to attend, failure to obey a legal order will result in legal sanctions against them.

I am not sure about your other questions, my guesses are;

the previous employer may have a policy to provide coverage for current employees but is not obligated to extend it to previous employees

the new employer is under no obligation, to accommodate the nurse's request for time off, so they respond in whatever way suits them

If you have malpractice insurance, consider asking them your questions, they are good questions and it would be interesting to know the answers.

[Altra, BSN, RN]

Anyone required as a witness for any court proceeding is required to appear. Laws on whether or not employers have to accommodate this vary from state to state.

As far as the hospital which was the previous employer contributing toward travel/lodging expenses ... I doubt it. They have no reason to do so, as there is no longer an employer-employee relationship.

Malpractice insurance does sometimes provide reimbursement for expenses like this -- reason #342 to carry professional insurance.

[nervousnurse, ASN]

Thanks for the responses---very interesting. I hope I never have to deal with this, and was very

curious.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

In my experience, a lot of this can be handled via depositions if it is a hardship to attend in person. Of course, this is a different situation if you are named as a defendant. I have been deposed as a nurse educator - very scary experience, but the hospital attorney helped me through it in each instance.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

Have your own malpractice insurance, always. They can help c this. The side that calls you as a witness should pay your expenses to get there (and stay prn). They'll just bill it as an expense to their client. :)

[jeroboam]

Most of these responses are wrong in some respect. I practiced law before becoming an RN, so I'll attempt to answer. You're asking (1) whether a former employee of a hospital, one who has moved "very far away", can be compelled to attend a court proceeding related to a hospital lawsuit, and (2) whether a former employee who hasn't moved away could be compelled to attend a court proceeding despite being busy with a new job.

As for question (1): most malpractice lawsuits are filed in state court. I'm assuming the former employee who has moved "very far away" has moved out of state. A state has personal jurisdiction only over people who live within the state. Thus, a state court could NOT compel a former employee now living out of state to attend a court proceeding. The court could issue a subpoena, which the lawyers could then take to a court in the former employee's new state of residence, and that court could compel the former employee to sit for a deposition, which could be used in the proceeding. But state courts do not have power over persons outside their borders.

Question (2): the former employee could be compelled to attend a court proceeding. The new employer is not obligated to give the employee time off to attend court, but most employers would. At worst, the employee would have to take leave without pay. But most court appearances do not last long; I've never seen a medical witness on the stand for longer than an hour. By the time a case gets to court, everyone knows the facts; the examination on the stand is merely a way to get the facts in front of the fact-finder (usually a jury).

As for the "other side" paying the "expenses" of a witness: lol. NOT. Assuming for a moment that the former employee is still around and can be subpoenaed, all that is paid is a nominal witness fee, perhaps mileage. As for being in a courtroom for two weeks: highly unusual. Most witnesses are told that their testimony will come on a particular day. I tried plenty of cases in my life and never had a witness on the stand for two weeks.

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

I was in the courtroom for two weeks and on the stand a total of 3 times. I was "picked" to be the representative from our hospital to sit at the defense table. And all the people who lived out of state were summoned and their stay/meals/airfare paid for by the hospital.

It is not a pleasant experience to be drilled and have your words twisted in so many ways.

[jeroboam]

A defense representative ... that's a different story. The hospital wanted to put a "human face" on its corporate existence, and so an employee was required to sit with the defense lawyers. As for out of state people who were called by the defense, they no doubt agreed to appear voluntarily, and were reimbursed by the hospital (of course); almost no one would appear voluntarily without having their expenses paid. Regardless, the point is that out-of-state residents cannot be compelled to appear in a state court in another state.

Now, if the case were in federal court ... that's a whole other matter. But malpractice suits are rarely filed in federal court.

[jeroboam]

It is not a pleasant experience to be drilled and have your words twisted in so many ways.

Most people are unable to speak precisely. We often say one thing and mean something else. Language is subjective. Lawyers are paid to ask questions in order to elicit the true meaning and intent of a witness's words. Both sides do it ... plaintiff and defense. This, by the way, is why charting is so important. Unfortunately, in my opinion, a majority of nurses have poor writing skills (which is no surprise to anyone who visits this forum). I once settled a case for a client against a hospital for over $500,000 all due to one poorly crafted sentence in a chart note involving a do-not-resuscitate order. The nurse who wrote the sentence said, on the stand, referring to what she wrote: "but that's not what I meant". End of case: we settled at the next break in the case.

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

This guy knew he was fighting a bad battle, our charting was impeccable. He was drawing at straws.