Malpractice insurance after being sued?

[JaneBSN]

Wondering if anybody can help with this question. Say a registered nurse was sued over a hospital case she was involved in, briefly, hours after said negligence occurred, but named along with everybody else. Then the hospital settled for all parties, without even getting a chance to defend herself, or give a deposition.

now, said nurse is in a NP program, and is just finding out that she needs Liability Insurance to do clinicals!

will insurance companies decline the nurse?

said incident occurred nine years ago.

any info, or direction appreciated!

[Jules A, MSN]

Were you turned down for malpractice insurance as a RN after the incident?

[scottaprn]

You will probably still be able to get it but may pay a premium.

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

Hospitals settle more times than not. Did it get to court and were charges filed against this person and pursued? If judgement was made and the person found guilty, probably a hard time. If not, she can

most likely get insurance. This is why you should carry your own insurance at all times.

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

Plaintiffs' attorneys often cast a wide net, even though they know they aren't going to actually involve all parties.

Sounds the hospital, as part of its settlement, included that their is no pursuit of other parties. As a practical matter, it prevents individual clinicians from being sued; directly or indirectly pulling the hospital back in as either a witness, or from being sued by the clinician for their damages.

Usually, they just want it over and done with.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

The only one who will tell you if you'll be turned down for malpractice insurance is the malpractice insurance carrier. I would still apply for it.

[RiskManager]

Speaking as a healthcare risk manager who has also worked at a malpractice insurer, it is very unlikely that a case that long ago, and with no explicit finding of liability or payout on behalf of the nurse will have any impact on the ability to get a policy now. I would wonder if the nurse was even explicitly named as a defendant. If the nurse was not, she may not even have to disclose it on the underwriting application. Most nursing policies in the USA are written by CNA or CNA subsidiaries, and their underwriting application tends to ask only if you have been named in a claim or lawsuit.

[JaneBSN]

No, there was a payout on each individual party, and an entry made in the National Data base.

It states "alleged" on the paperwork in NDB. No convictions of charges, or anything.

[RiskManager]

Ah, I have reported scores of those sort of settlements to the NPDB. I usually try to word the report to make it clear that the case was being settled for financial reasons related to the cost of defense versus the cost of settlement and that no actual finding of liability was made. In that case, CNA, or any other malpractice insurance underwriting department will be most interested in the liability allegation and the actual amount paid in settlement on the nurses' behalf. A small or nuisance-value settlement will not cause any problems in underwriting. Once you start getting above $ 25,000 payouts, the underwriters start paying attention, and once you get above $ 100,000 payouts, the underwriters pay very close attention indeed. The higher the payout, the more likely it was made for true liability or defensibility concerns, and not just for financial reasons to make the claimant go away.

But also, the length of time since the claim and the jurisdiction in which the claim was filed can also enter into the underwriting decision. Since this claim occurred so long ago, and not knowing the jurisdiction, I suspect that there will not be any underwriting problems, assuming it was not a large payout.