Nurses sued!!!!!

oldfashionedlove · Jan 12, 2009

Hi,

Besides neglegence. What reasons could a person be put in prison for a crime? I mean besides disrespecting a person wish to get medical care. What about God forbide giving a wrong level of medication. Regarding diabetes, can a person who is not diabetic and is given insulin die?

This is one reason my mother does not want me to go into this profession. How scary? for both.

I was also told that if a person gets fired for not getting along with the other people in the hospital. They can get fired and they have to report it to the Nursing Association and they do not lose their licence but when the other person wants to hire them, they still have to give a report to the new potential employee.

Thanks

nrsang97, BSN, RN · Jan 12, 2009

The only thing that would get a RN put in prison is criminal neglect leading to death. Not getting along with co workers alone is not a reason to fire anyone. If they were hostile then that is a different story. If you give the worng med or dose it would be a med error and not put you in prison. If you did intentionally and killed someone that would then be murder and you would go to prison. Being disrespectful to a person in the hospital, while isn't nice wont put you in jail. Denying someone treatment would cause problems. Everyone that walks into the ER is triaged accordingly, as non emergent, urgent, and emergent.

However to answer your question about giving the insulin to a non diabetic, no the probably will not die, but they would have a low blood sugar. We give patients who aren't diabetic insulin at times, like when they are on steriod therapy due to the increase in blood glucose. We give almost everyone insulin unless the glucose is less than 110 for 3 checks in a row. Research shows that those with a lower blood sugar heal better. So we like to keep blood sugar 80-110. That is part of our tight glycemic control protocol.

If you decide to be a nurse you will be taught how to correctly administer meds. We all can and do make mistakes. I have given Vicodin ES instead of regular vicodin. Did the pt get harmed? No, but still a error.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Jan 12, 2009

lots of info in our nursing career advice

under start here: helpful info "stickied threads" for nursing career advice see the thread:

malpractice insurance and liability info:

https://allnurses.com/forums/f87/get-...sk-213515.html

protecting yourself from malpractice claims

bluemalibu · Jan 12, 2009

Performing measures beyond the scope of one's license is also a criminal offense. "Practicing Without a License"

caliotter3 · Jan 12, 2009

If you allow yourself to be intimidated, you will end up never leaving your bedroom. You have to learn your craft well and promise yourself to always do the best you can. You protect yourself by following good sense, facility procedure, and maintaining your malpractice insurance. You can also go a long way to protect yourself by establishing and maintaining a good working relationship with your patients. Nursing is a profession where you must maintain your brain in the ON position at all times while on the job. If you can not do this, then you need to find a vocation where mental alertness is not always necessary.

PrisonrNurs · Jan 12, 2009

Hey Mina,

Believe me, you need to worry about being sued! It can be for anything and everything, and no where in my opinion, is this worse than correctional nursing. I've been a correctional nurse for 5 years, and throughout that time I've had 6 claims of sexual misconduct (three of them were actual RAPE claims) 4 allegations of inappropriate care, and one case of negligence. The negligence case was because I didn't treat the inmate's pain. I wouldn't give him narcotics...for his jock itch! It doesn't matter how frivolous the claim is, if it goes through the process, it's nerve wracking and stressful. I've been reported to the BON once for a claim. I fought it and won, but it took 18 months and a letter to the governor himself to do it. Trust me on this: You never want to go up against the licensing board. They are the closest thing to pure EVIL I have ever dealt with, and I'm a cancer survivor.

You are accountable for everything you do and they say document, document, DOCUMENT! It will save your career, and when you document, do so as if a defense lawyer was reading it. I know this from experience. I wouldn't be a nurse today were it not for proper documentation, and if you called to testify, you should tell them to look at the documentation. Lawyers will try to do two things: Prove you negligent or incompetent.

iluvivt, BSN, RN · Jan 12, 2009

I totally agree....I chart as if I was reading the chart and looking for a violation of the standard of care and/or negligence. I document teaching really well...more than I see other do. I read a lawsuit case recently and even though the nurse followed the hospital policy she still lost the case b/c the hospitals policy was not in sync with current standards. So not only do you need to know the policies...you have to critique them and bring it to someones attention if they are not current. basically they said the nurse should have known better and of course the patient won a 7.2 million dollar settlement.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Jan 12, 2009

Merged similar threads together...

Legal Eagle Eye Newsletter for the Nursing Profession Home Page

has fountain of legal information to help you minimize being sued.

lpn2icu · Jan 12, 2009

Being sued is very real!

Why do you think we have so many lawyers?

The bottom line, I think, is the facility that you are working for! When they find out you are accountable/liable, the lawyers representing the patients will proceed to sue the facility; of course, you still have to be testified in court!

If you go to the BON websites, you will see some nurses lost their licenses for "funny" reasons. You can also be suspended for sleeping on the job!

CHATSDALE · Jan 12, 2009

this is a sword that hangs over a nurses head at all times

frequently the lawsuits are settled by the hospital and everyone in the case is covered by settlement

i have been in a lawyers office once to give a deposition and once when a lawyer came to the facility to take the sworn statement, neither one affected me per se but in one i answered the code and in the other i had worked with both nurses and with the patient who was injuried

i have worked with a nurse who was served with papers after 5 years of the incident, she didn't remember what had happen and didn't know there was litigation involved

another nurse was called to testify about a injection given incorrectly resulting in atrophied arm

both of these cases were settled in favor of the patient [family] really a correct decision in my opinion because the patients were harmed by action [inaction]

other opinions about charting about everything is absolutely correct, the only way of protecting yourself

i have worked with nurses who took their report sheets home with them and filed them

you don't want to be paranoid but this can happen to anyone

but don't let this deter you from becoming a nurse...it is a good life for most and you are needed

diane227, LPN, RN · Jan 12, 2009

I have done a lot of legal consulting in my time and this is what I have found: if you practice safe care and you follow hospital policy, you will be fine. Remember that just because a patient has a bad outcome it does not mean that someone was at fault.

I did a case for a small hospital in East Texas. A patient came into the ED with a headache. She came in frequently for headaches and was treated with phenergan and Nubain. She had been there many times and all the nurses knew her. When she was triaged in the nurse asked her if she had a ride home and reminded her that she could not be discharged home without a ride. When she got to the treatment area, again, before the nurse gave her the medication she was instructed that she could not drive herself home. She stated that her husband was sleeping in the car waiting for her (it was about 3 am). About an hour after she was medicated she was ready to leave. She was awake, alert, ambulatory. She refused a wheelchair. The nurses wanted to escort her to her car but she pointed at her car and said that her husband was sleeping and she could get to the car alone. The nurse watched her walk to the car and get into the passenger side of the car.

About 2 hours later, EMS returned with this lady in full trauma arrest. She had wrecked her car and been badly injured. She survived but had a severe head injury from which she never recovered. As is happened her husband was not in the car and in fact did not know she had even gone to the hospital until they called to tell him she had been in an accident.

The case came to trial about 3 years after the date of the accident. The record clearly demonstrated that the patient had been advised not to drive on three separate occasions while she was in the ED. The charting was excellent. In deposition the nurse was able to recall the case clearly and was able to state the situation as I described above. The case went to the jury 3 days later and the jury found the hospital to be at fault 50% and the patient to be at fault 50%. The jury felt that the nurse had an obligation to escort the patient to the car and to assure she was not driving, but they did consider that since this patient was a long standing patient and had been advised before not to drive when taking these medications, she was partially at fault.

The nurse in the situation did not suffer any disciplinary action because she had followed hospital policy. The plaintiff attorney did not bring charges against her as an individual because she did not carry malpractice insurance and therefore they had nothing to gain by going after her. She had no resources he could get. However, the hospitals limits of liability were only about $500,000 per incident. Had the nurse had a million dollar policy of her own I have no doubt that she would have been sued as an individual.

The long and short of this story is YOU NEVER KNOW what a jury is going to do. You never know how they will look at the case. They will view anything that comes before them based on the law and their own experience.

It is hard to sit for a deposition and to testify in court. If your hospital is sued and you are involved the attorney for the hospital will sit down with you and go over everything in advance. You will review the documentation (or lack of) and review the policies that were in place AT THE TIME OF THE EVENT. They will prepare you for deposition and for your testimony in court. Take their advice and shut up. Don't try to explain unless asked and keep it short. Answer yes or no only as often as you can.

This is a long answer to a short question. Sorry. Also, you can be terminated in most places for sleeping on the job. I have terminated employees for that because I did not hire them to sleep. If you want to know what kinds of things that will cause an action against your license, go to the board of nursing web site for your state and get a copy of the nurse practice act for your state. In addition, the sites usually have a place where you can review the types of actions they have taken. Most are due to diversion of narcotics. In Texas I had to report every nurse to the Board that I terminated for causes outlined in the nurse practice act. I did not have to report sleeping on the job or absenteeism but I did have to report anything that was considered to be unsafe care. For example, one nurse gave medication to a patient without a physician order (and it was not even her patient) and another nurse broke a patients arm. Had I failed to report those events I could be investigated by the board for failure to report.