malpractice/liability insurance for NICU RN's

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Just wondered if any of you would share if you have malpractice/liability insurance in NICU and if you had insurance prior to starting in NICU or decided to buy it after you went into NICU and if you did what made you decide to buy it?

Sometimes with paper charting I find it harder because the paper charting is by exception only. Similar to a post I put on about monitor vitals vs full assessments and the times between them. So for example not charted, not done..... you have a baby that is not due to be touched until 10 am (you came in at 7 am - the last nurse did a full assessment and fed the baby gavage or whatever) so there is no documentation at all until you start at 10 am. Many institutions have a behavioural section. They are on a monitor and that obviously has a brain, but do any of you just chart babe sleeping or appears comfortable and the monitor values at the beginning of your shift in hours if they aren't due? If something were to happen (your IV/Piccs, are charted on hourly as well as fluid rates) but nothing else is required unless on oxygen protocol to be charted hourly. Makes me nervous. Also with computer charting it is easier to use the screens to make patient note as to how many times MD was paged or called or no orders, etc. where as the paper charting everthing is visible to MD, harder to write description of.

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I got malpractice as a student. We are urged to get coverage, by the NLN, the ANA, and everyone here with any experience, including sirI, a forensic and legal nurse.

www.nso.com

Peace of mind. Priceless.

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yea between switching specialties and paper charting feeling a little cautious! The facility's risk managment officially said to us that we do not need to get our own insurance as long as we follow procedure/policy. However in this speciality with parents 24/7 and high acuity and differences of opinion I can just see that a suit could happen to a family that is looking to blame someone/anything on the forces of nature. That and the retinopathy of prematurity literature that is posted and handed out everywhere. Parents call all the time and ask what fio2 their wee ones are in and sometimes it feels like we have to defend ourselves. It's like 30% on vent rate of 60 not that bad, can wean down but they freak when the alarms go off high ..... really.... it's the ones that keep going low that should freak them out more. I love to educate but am finding that all the information on eyes given to the parents that when they have a 23 5/7 week baby, I can't help that they need increased o2 from shift to shift or day to day! That was a tangent on its own, sorry.

But really if something happens and we are all out in the open in eyesite of one another's assignmnet, we are all going to be called. I plan to purchase insurance soon. Trouble is staffing and unsafe assignments from my previous years in another area should have made me buy it back then! Only now am I thinking of it.

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If something happens see how quickly they'll throw you under the bus!

Just buy it. It'll run around $100 a year. A very small price to pay.

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Specializes in NICU Level III.

I let mine lapse until my facility went to computer charting. Way too many places to chart the same thing so you leave one empty and it's easy for a lawyer to make it look like you didn't do it.

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Specializes in NICU.

I have been advised not to carry my own policy, unless I am working for a facility that does not cover their employees. I know of people who have been named individually in lawsuits after revealing in depositions that they carried their own insurance. If I were doing independent homecare or something like that, I would carry it, but otherwise, I am just carried by the hospital's insurance provider.

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I have been advised not to carry my own policy, unless I am working for a facility that does not cover their employees. I know of people who have been named individually in lawsuits after revealing in depositions that they carried their own insurance. If I were doing independent homecare or something like that, I would carry it, but otherwise, I am just carried by the hospital's insurance provider.

Forgive me for speaking plainly, but you have been misinformed. If you need to go up against the BON because of something the HOSPITAL reported who is going to defend you then?

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Specializes in NICU.
I have been advised not to carry my own policy, unless I am working for a facility that does not cover their employees. I know of people who have been named individually in lawsuits after revealing in depositions that they carried their own insurance. If I were doing independent homecare or something like that, I would carry it, but otherwise, I am just carried by the hospital's insurance provider.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Don't think your hospital will protect you. They will NOT.

This argument is similar to the thinking of not getting auto insurance, in hopes that the "other guy" is insured. It's quite a gamble and a huge risk to take.

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Specializes in NICU Level III.

I echo RainDreamer and Suesquatch. Hospitals could give a rat's rear end about helping a nurse.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, educator.

You were very misinformed. You should always carry your own insurance. Remember, in the area we are in, parents/child have 21 years to form a suit. I was just called for a 20 year old case, yes you read it right. But, if the hospital attorney sees that you faultered from P/P one iota, you are on your own. Also, it is good to have in case you are assaulted at work by a patient or their family.

You can be named in a lawsuit, but they have to prove you did something wrong to collect/settle.

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Specializes in Neonatal ICU (Cardiothoracic).

I got full malpractice coverage from NSO when I started in the NICU, both for my practice, and for graduate school clinicals.

It's well worth the protection...

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I think it's pointless and a waste of money. I've also been told that it's pointless and a waste of money for an RN to carry (unless you are an advanced practice RN). Like someone already said on here, they only sue nurses if they know they have malpractice insurance. Litigants pursue the hospital and the doctors' insurance - not the nurses. A nurse where I work inserted an IV on a patient. The IV wasn't placed correctly and it infiltrated for a long period of time. It severly damaged her arm that required several cosmetic surgeries. This nurse did not carry insurance. The hospital covered her completely (in fact, she was never targeted by the lawyers) and they settled out of court for $98,000 and free health insurance for life.

Most nurses are just paranoid about lawsuits. If buying something makes you feel better, then go for it. But it's not needed.

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