Professional Liability Insurance

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Hi Everyone,

I have to give a testimony, and the mock bill I'm against states that all RNs shall be required to carry their own professional in order to practice. I am finding a lot of information on liability insurance...the problem is that everthing I find supports nurses purchasing their own insurance. I can't find anything about nurses being required to purchase their own insurance. I would like to find at least one source to back up my testimony. If any of you have any ideas they would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks:)

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

A testimony? In court??

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It's a mock testimony, but we do go to the courthouse to do it. The bill is also a mock bill, and we were assigned our positions on the bill. There is a lot of information out there on . I just can't find anything to back up my position.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

Well, the primary reason that I didn't purchase for quite a long time was because I always heard that it made the RN a target for lawsuits. As in a scenario where there were 10 RN's involved in the claimant's care, but it's only worth targeting those who have deep pockets (i.e., a liability insurance policy).

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I just purchased insurance from NSO for $99. I recommmend that ALL nurses have insurance, not so much to protect you from patient lawsuits (that too, of course), but I would be more worried in this anti employee climate, that protecting yourself from your employer is just as important.

Think, Texas nurses, and the ordeal that they went through, with the DA charging them with a crimanal act, for protecting their patients.

Yes, it turned out OK, (they were robbed in their law suit against these guys), but they ultimately prevailed. As usual, an ounce of protection is worth a pound of cure.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Someplace in the PACNW

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I work in a mental health setting, and have seen agencies sacrifice nurses and counselors (with or without insurance) during lawsuits.

Agency lawyers settle out of court, leaving the nurses and counselors with unanswered questions for their licensure boards as to whether they are guilty or not. I've always carried separate from that of the organization I work with, if nothing else than to have the funds to cover a lawyer to protect my personal interests and my license (and livelihood) "just in case".

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The saying goes: "you look out for #1".

Your employer will hang you out to dry. At least you have some ammunition if anything does go down.

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Specializes in ER, ICU.

How about the Constitution? This sounds like the argument about being required to carry your own health insurance. Since this sounds like a school assignment I don't want to give away the end...

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How about the Constitution? This sounds like the argument about being required to carry your own health insurance. Since this sounds like a school assignment I don't want to give away the end...

Actually, it's more like being required to carry automobile as a condition of having a driver's license (actually, it's exactly the same thing), which plenty of states require and nobody has a legal problem with. The difference is that, if you don't want to buy the liability coverage, you can choose not to drive (or, in this case, practice nursing). The objection many people have to the health insurance requirement is that it's not an optional/conditional thing, it's just a requirement, period. A state could choose to make liability coverage a condition of nursing licensure the same as it can require that you graduate from nursing school and take the NCLEX as conditions of licensure (both of which cost $$$, also). And anyone who doesn't want to meet those conditions is free to not seek a nursing license.

OP: Sorry I can't help, but I've never heard anyone offer any convincing reason why a nurse shouldn't carry her/his own coverage. Good luck with your assignment! (I did have the experience, in grad school, of participating in a debate in which I was on the side of the question that I and everyone else in the room strongly disagreed with -- and doing the preparation for that debate was an excellent learning and reasoning experience! At the end of the process, the class voted that my teammate and I had won the debate -- even though we had the unpopular and "politically incorrect" side of the issue to argue.)

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Specializes in Sub-Acute/Psychiatric/Detox.

Nurses work for decades without being sued in some cases.

Then out of no where..

I don't even flinch when I send out my check to the NSO people.

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