Malpractice Insurance

[Q.]

How many of you carry personal malpractice insurance? If you do, what area of nursing do you practice?

In OB, which is one of the higher liability areas, we were discussing if it is a good idea or not to have personal malpractice insurance. Some see it as a bad sign if an RN carries this, or others see it as just available funds for settlement. In other words, if a patient knows that the money is out there, they are more likely to try to settle for that amount, verses if you have the hospital cover you they are only likely to settle for, say $100,000.

[Q.]

Realnurse, thanks for the advice.

I just saw a TV commercial in my area that was talking about kids with Cerebral Palsy, and that their condition might be the result of your doctors and nurses who delivered your baby! Nurses! It was an ad for an attorney's office. It scared me. I've seen some pretty horrible things in OB and sometimes there just isn't a damn thing we could've done differently - but I have a long way to go yet in my career and I just never know......

thanks for the advice.

Not to mention, I might be getting a new job as a phone nurse which I believe someone said was another area that is somewhat risky to practice. Yikes.

[Brownms46]

Originally posted by Charles S. Smith, RN, MS:

Originally posted by Brownms46:

Heyyyy watch the name calling...I got scum-sucking lawyer friends!

I have to put in my .25 cents worth. What about the nurse who works per diem? Do you think the hospital would cover you, or do you feel your agency would cover you? Being per diem, you run the risk of not knowing what a hospital policy is, and if you don't follow the policy, there is a good chance you would be left out in the cold if a lawsuit was brought. Example...you preform a skill not allowed at a particular hospital, but you have obtained the ok from the charge nurse to do so. Only after you preform the skill with no difficulty, you find out, that you weren't allow to do that procedure. If something adverse happened to this pt., even though you didn't cause it. But when the case goes to court, and this came out, who do you think would cover you?

Brownie

Any licensed professional should closely examine the ramifications of involvement in a lawsuit. All should carry some sort of coverage. Most policies cover your defense costs, so is a good investment. The cost of your insurance is also tax deductible.

If you are per diem, you absolutely must carry coverage. Protect yourself first in all cases.

regards

chas

I totally agree!

Brownie

[Robin61970]

I wanted to thank all of you for this topic of discussion...I am not yet a nurse and had not even thought of this one as of yet.....I do believe that I would carry my own insurance as well....face it we are a sue happy society anything for the almighty buck...case in point....somewhere near here(can't remember where) a man had a heart attack during dinner in a restaraunt....someone performed CPR cracking a rib in the process and saved his life....it was said that he would have died without the CPR and he sued the guy that saved his life for breaking his rib...I would rather be safe than sorry

[jllpn]

When I was in nursing school, we were told that it ws not necessary to carry your own insurance. Also, stating that if you have it they just go after you. Your employer carries insurance. This is definitely a case of "darned if you do and darned if you don't." Does "Good Samaritan Act" offer any protection when not on duty?

[Q.]

It's my understanding the Good Samaritain law applies to off-duty - but certainly not for medical advice, etc. In the case of the CPR, I would have thought that the Good Samaritain law would protect that person. I suppose the guy could actually SUE that nurse (there's nothing that says you CAN'T sue anybody) but would not get very far for it.

[nursinmome4two]

I am a lpn currently taking an LPN refresher course to re-activate my nursing license after a period of semi-retirement. In order to complete my clinical rotations, I need medical malpractice insurance. Does anyone know of a source I can look for it?

I'd appreciate any information.

Thanks nursinmome4two

[kesneysmom]

Can those that do carry it give us a price range?

[nialloh, RN]

http://www.nso.com/

This is where I've gotten my insurance for years. It costs about $88 a year.

As to the posts, if something happens today, and you quit/are fired tomorrow, the hospital insurance will not cover you.

On the other hand, with your own insurance, it is usually incident baced. If something happens today and you drop the insurance tomorrow, you are still covered for that incident.

[elkpark]

This topic has been discussed numerous times on this BB, but, somehow, it never seems to get old! :) I've been an RN for ~20 years now, and have never practiced a day without my own Liability Insurance. It's the best $89 I spend each year. When I was in nursing school, my father, who is an MD (retired now), advised me to always carry my own insurance, for the reasons that have already been listed by some of the previous posters.

Also, I've spent the last several years working as a hospital surveyor/inspector for my state and the Feds. In that capacity, I've investigated numerous deaths and complaints related to patient injuries or bad outcomes. Although our investigations were related to licensure and compliance with applicable state and Federal regulations, not lawsuits, it was easy to see which of the situations were probably going to end up, farther down the road, as lawsuits against the hospital (sometimes, by the time the team got done with the investigation, we were hoping the family would sue!! ) In most all of those cases (because the hospitals could figure that out as well as we could ...), the position the hospital took with us was that it was the specific nurse's fault that X happened, and they had already taken prompt corrective action by firing the nurse. So, not only can that nurse can just forget about being covered under the hospital's insurance, but, in fact, when/if it does go to court, the hospital will attempt to defend itself by arguing in court that it was all her/his fault! Might work, might not -- you just don't know ...

Even if you do end up in a lawsuit with counsel provided by the hospital's insurer, whose interests do those attorneys really represent? The hospital's, not yours -- because it's the hospital who purchases the coverage. If you have your own coverage, you have your own attorneys who represent your interests (well, actually, they represent your insurance company's interests, which might not be the same as yours, but that's a whole 'nother conversation ...)

Good Samaritan laws, BTW, only apply to responding to emergency situations, and, even then, it is possible to be sued if it can be argued that you did something outside standard nursing practice.

We don't pay premiums every year for auto insurance, homeowner's insurance, or health insurance because we're planning on having accidents or disasters or getting sick or hit by a truck, but because we know that sometimes stuff happens despite our best efforts. I figure it's the same thing with personal liability insurance.

[palesarah]

Can those that do carry it give us a price range?

Mine was about $350/yr for L&D malpractice insurance. I don't remember the company offhand but I got it through AWOHNN.

[abundantjoy07, RN]

Well...I'm still a student. But every semester we are charged a fee in order to have malpractice insurance. It's not optional. Of course, it makes sense being students and all... Many of my instructors have advised us to continue with malpractice insurance throughout our careers.