which nursing speciality is at most risk for being sued?

[chiuli]

All are at risk. But which speciality is at most risk for being sued?

What about MD's. Which specialty is at most risk? I'm thinking peds because those kids have a long road ahead. Parents can later sue. As far as nursing, Im not sure, maybe critical care since those patients are at highest risk for death and can blame the nurse who is with them 24/7

Do you find that when people get real old, the family kind of wants them to die?

[rn/writer, RN]

L&D, definitely.

People expect a happy ending when having a baby. When something goes awry, they want someone to blame. The fact that there are so many variables (natural, induction, section, TOLAC, VBAC, etc.) provides plenty of opportunity for second guessing.

Couple that with the fact that, while few lay people are conversant with the details of complicated surgery or advance chemo regimens, everyone who has ever been a baby, seen a baby, held a baby, or had a baby seems to think they understand the complexities and nuances of childbirth. If there is any kind of negative outcome, you will have plenty of peanut gallery members giving all manner of legal advice and encouragement.

This is not to say that nurses in other areas don't get sued. Only that OBs have the highest malpractice premiums (the last time I looked at the figures) and in any lawsuit, L&D nurses are likely to be named (along with the hospital and anyone else the attorney can think of).

I would never work L&D without professional Liability Insurance, that's for sure. (Even if a nurse isn't named in a suit, she can be called as a witness against a doc or even a co-worker. The insurance would provide me with legal services in that situation as well as if I were actually sued.)

[NickB]

I wish suing was... illegal in the medical field. I know thats impossible, but it seems like there are more ******** cases then real ones. My mom has tried to sue doctors like 3 times in her life over ********... typical I suppose...

Maybe not illegal, but the loser should have to pay. Your mom definitely wouldn't have tried 3 times if she had to pay for the first one that she lost.

[happy2learn]

I would bet OB and L&D. I read an article a while back stating that OB/GYN doctors had the highest malpractice insurance.

[Evalynn]

I wish suing was... illegal in the medical field. I know thats impossible, but it seems like there are more ******** cases then real ones. My mom has tried to sue doctors like 3 times in her life over ********... typical I suppose...

There are a lot of frivolous lawsuits that shouldn't happen, but I think health care professionals need to be held accountable too. My family lost a loved one due to horrendous neglect from health care professionals. That's actually the reason why I'm becoming a nurse... to gain knowledge to protect the people I love, and to hopefully give the kind of care to other people that my loved one did not receive. There is a lot more protection for the professionals (hospitals, insurance), than the patients. Health care professionals shouldn't be punished for known complications that may arise during care assuming they disclose said risks to patients, but they shouldn't be allowed to practice medicine if they are repeatedly negligent or incompetent. At the end of the day, it shouldn't be about lawsuits, but about protecting people and increasing the quality of care. Isn't that why people get into medicine in the first place, to help people and take care of them?

[RNDreamer]

I was told NICU was one of the highest, too, but can't figure out why. Has anyone else heard this, too?

[snazzy-jazzy, BSN, RN]

I was going to say OB / Maternity as well. Yes I could imagine NICU and the SCN being high risk for sueing as well. Not saying that they would be successful at a claim, I just think they would also get parents who might be going through the grieving process and become angry or looking for someone to blame then the health care professionals are probably the first target for that.

[OttawaRPN]

I wish suing was... illegal in the medical field. I know thats impossible, but it seems like there are more ******** cases then real ones.

If your life was ruined from shoddy medical care resulting in loss of income, loss of property and hundreds of thousands of $$$ of unpaid medical bills, not to mention the emotional damage, you'd be the first one calling the lawyer. It definitely shouldn't be "illegal" in the medical field.

[GHGoonette, BSN, RN]

If your life was ruined from shoddy medical care resulting in loss of income, loss of property and hundreds of thousands of $$$ of unpaid medical bills, not to mention the emotional damage, you'd be the first one calling the lawyer. It definitely shouldn't be "illegal" in the medical field.

I quite agree, it shouldn't be illegal, but the tendency to sue for anything and everything is resulting in so much documentation for harassed nurses that it is interfering with effective patient care. It's difficult to maintain your vigilance over your patients when so much of your time is spent with your head down over the charts.