PLEASE buy malpractice insurance!!

[Athena2]

I've been reading here for years and have been an RN for many years. I've read many posts about whether or not it was thought that a nurse getting their own malpractice ins was a good idea. I've not seen any poster reply that has personal experience with this. So, without saying anything about the situation, I wanted to say that, unfortunately, I have this experience. I have always been a very careful nurse and never, ever thought this would happen to me. But on the safe side, I always kept malpractice Ins. This situation has been the most horrible, stressful thing I have ever gone through in my entire life. Whether you are really at fault or not, you still have to go through the horrible process and feel like a criminal. However, it would have been much worse had I not had my own Ins. Yes, your employer has Ins on you, but they may not have your best interest at heart. If you find yourself in a lawsuit and have your own Ins, all you do is call the Ins co, explain the situation and they will provide you with an experienced, reputable attorney. If they do not live near you, they go to YOU. This is at no extra cost to you. If I had not had this Ins, I would have had to find my own attorney at my expense. Also, if heaven forbid, you get turned over to the board of nursing, the ins. I have will provide you an attorney for this also. No one should ever go before the board alone.

I just wanted to let all of my fellow nurses know that it DOES happen to nurses. Nurses get sued!! And it does not always happen in nursing areas where lawsuits are prevalent either. It also does not just happen with med errors. Nurses are responsible for so much, you can be sued for almost anything you have anything to do with. Nursing is so stressful anyway, why not at least help decrease the stress by having your own malpractice ins. who provide you with your own lawyer that has YOUR best interest at heart? It is so cheap to have. NO nurse should ever be without it. Take it from me, I know.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

I heard from the lawyers at my hospital that having malpractice insurance is not a good idea because when someone sues, they sue whoever has the most potential for a high payout. And if you have insurance, instead of just suing the hospital, they now sue you as well because they know the insurance will pay out. I don't see why the lawyers of the hospital would lie to us (it is also a union hospital) but maybe someone can explain it to me better.

The lawyers at your hospital have a vested interest in protecting the facility, not you. And the less protected you are the easier it is to throw you under the bus.

[talaxandra]

My first response is that anyone can make a mistake. Moreso, anyone can be sued, regardless of whether or not they made a mistake - even if the suit is thrown out, without legal representation you're [censored].

As RNforYears pointed out, lawyers aren't cheap - you could spend the rest of your life paying them off. Your hospital may well appoint lawyers on your beahlf, but if your actions could be construed as being contrary to hospital policy, procedure or common practice they can sue you, in turn. It's harder to get away with that if you've got your own representation.

[KeepItRealRN, BSN, RN]

I heard from the lawyers at my hospital that having malpractice insurance is not a good idea because when someone sues, they sue whoever has the most potential for a high payout. And if you have insurance, instead of just suing the hospital, they now sue you as well because they know the insurance will pay out. I don't see why the lawyers of the hospital would lie to us (it is also a union hospital) but maybe someone can explain it to me better.

For the same reason they tell you not to have any personal documentation. Reason, if you do, it could be subpeona'd (sp?). Well so what. So what if you were keeping a personal journal about something unsafe and your attempts to get them rectified. This type of stuff is not appropriate for the patient's medical record, that is what personal documentation is for. It can save your ass when the hospital leaves it out to dry.

I've heard this idiocy about personal malpractice insurance before. The hospital attorney has the hospitals business as their primary focus, not yours. If your best interest is not congruent with the hospital's then you are on your own. Besides why the hell would you trust someone just because he/she is a laywer. As a profession lawyers are as trustworthy as politicians and bankers.

[Simply Complicated]

"i'm curious though. i've heard from people on here that some say it's not worth getting if you really have no assets?"

not true. nobody who has or will have a job has "no assets."

you may inherit.

you may have a credit card with a max withdrawal amount, or a line of credit on your home.

you may want to apply for a credit card someday, or a car loan, or a mortgage, or a school loan.

want to have a lien on you, just sitting there, waiting to screw up your future?

if this op's experience isn't enough to convince you, then, well, what will happen will happen.

i wasn't saying i agreed, i was just commenting on what i have heard. i think what was said, is they are not likely to try and sue a nurse who has no assets. but if you have the malpractice insurance, than they are more likely to. there was a thread about it like a week ago, where someone said that. so i was just asking about it.

[Simply Complicated]

I heard from the lawyers at my hospital that having malpractice insurance is not a good idea because when someone sues, they sue whoever has the most potential for a high payout. And if you have insurance, instead of just suing the hospital, they now sue you as well because they know the insurance will pay out. I don't see why the lawyers of the hospital would lie to us (it is also a union hospital) but maybe someone can explain it to me better.

This is what I was asking about. Because I just read a thread like a week ago about this.

[talaxandra]

Here's an (old) example from my hospital - two former ICU nurses were diving a patient for hyperbaric therapy, one inside the chamber and one on the floor. The patient started fitting - it was prior to the introduction of rapid response teams and the covering resident wouldn't call back, so the nurses did what was standard practice in this situation in ICU and initiated an IV benzo dose, which terminated the seizure after six minutes, with no long term residual effects.

The nurses generated an incident report, which went to medical admin. They turned to nursing admin, ignored the potential harm of a prolonged seizure and the lack of medical response (the doctor finally called back, over half an hour after the first of half a dozen pagers), and objected to nurses initiated the drug. Nursing admin then fired both the nurses.

A similar incident happened over a year later at another Melbourne hospital. The nurses there had heard about the original incident and waited for a medical response before giving anything to terminate the seizure (in both cases there was no PRN order). The prolonged seizure progressed to status epilepticus, an ICU stay, aspiration pneumonia, extended rehab and long term complications. The hospital settled out of court with the family, and fired the nurses - with their ICU experience they should have initiated intervention instead of waiting.

[merlee]

Malpractice insurance is a lot cheaper than car insurance, and you can't leave home without it.

So spend the bucks to cover yourself. Even innocent people have to pay for attorney's fees.

Just do it.

[Sun0408, ASN, RN]

Of course the hospital doesn't want "us nurses" to have our own insurance.. See with insurance we have protection and a lawyer with our best interests at heart. They can't just throw us under the bus and blame everything on what we did or did not do.. Also, your pts don't know you have your own insurance, its not like you carry a sign around, so it's not like they are gonna sue for "just in case you do have a policy".

I have will continue to carry insurance.. Nice piece of mind for less than 100 bucks a year. Don't trust the hospital to cover you, we are a dime a dozen to them..

[netglow, ASN, RN]

A hospital that actually tells you NOT to protect yourself by getting malpractice insurance pretty much thinks you are stupid. You need to be insulted, and you need to understand that you are less than zero in their eyes.

Wake up, and think for yourself. Your employer is not your mommy.

[gonzo1, ASN, RN]

Have been grateful twice to have had it. No one knows I have it.

Let's say for example a patient is unhappy with something going on with their care. In order to keep face and keep the patient happy the hospital can tell the patient they have fired you. Now the patient is happy cause the BAD NURSEY has been fired.

The hospital looks good to the patient and you get to go look for a new job. You did nothing wrong, the patient was actually really ****** at the nurse before you. But you were the face in front of them when they finally hit the wall. So you are the one they remember. You are the one that gets thrown under the bus.

If you have your own NSO you can get them involved, and get your job back. Then when you get it back you can resign and go someplace that doesn't treat their nurses like that.

I would never work without my own insurance.

Nurses are a dime a dozen from hospitals point of view.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

I'll never work without insurance in place. Period.

[Athena2]

I heard from the lawyers at my hospital that having malpractice insurance is not a good idea because when someone sues, they sue whoever has the most potential for a high payout. And if you have insurance, instead of just suing the hospital, they now sue you as well because they know the insurance will pay out. I don't see why the lawyers of the hospital would lie to us (it is also a union hospital) but maybe someone can explain it to me better.

At the time a lawsuit is filed, there is no way for the attorney or the person filing the lawsuit to know that the nurse has her own malpractice Ins. This only comes out after the lawsuit is filed and underway, during "discovery" phase. No one knew I had malpractice Ins. What you heard is a myth.