Received Letter In Mail About Hospital Lawsuit At Old Job

[dreamshake18]

I got a letter in the mail today from a law office that represents the hospital I no longer work for (Stopped working there over a year ago). The estate of a deceased patient is filing a lawsuit against the hospital, and I apparently cared for them at some point. I don’t recognize their name, and therefore have no remembrance of the care I provided to them. They asked me to contact them to discuss the care, but I’m not sure what I would say if I don’t even remember the patient? This has never happened to me so I’m just looking for advice. Do I need to do anything about this?

[TriciaJ, RN]

1 hour ago, Hannahbanana said:

Nah, never never never contact the opposing attorney at all for anything unless you run it past your own attorney first— who is 99.9% guaranteed to say “Hell, no,” and write something without you. 

The hospital attorney is not the opposing attorney.  The hospital attorney represents the defendant, which may also be you if you are named in the suit.

Sometimes the hospital's legal team will defend you, in which case your own insurance will not kick in.

Sometimes the hospital will look for someone to throw under the bus, which is why you maintain your own policy.

[londonflo]

4 hours ago, londonflo said:

I thought an RN malpractice insurance would  specifially support the individual nurse, not just as an employed nurse for a hospital. Why then would someone purchase malpractice insurance? 

 

11 minutes ago, TriciaJ said:

Sometimes the hospital's legal team will defend you, in which case your own insurance will not kick in.

 

If I am reading this correctly:  you have to go through the machinations of the hospital legal team until they decide whether to throw you under bus or not. Does you name show up on the internet search engines?

But if the hospital is found liable for malpractice, and some blame rests on the nurse, can't the hospital sue the nurse?

 

[TriciaJ, RN]

42 minutes ago, londonflo said:

 

If I am reading this correctly:  you have to go through the machinations of the hospital legal team until they decide whether to throw you under bus or not. Does you name show up on the internet search engines?

But if the hospital is found liable for malpractice, and some blame rests on the nurse, can't the hospital sue the nurse?

 

I've never heard of a hospital suing a nurse.  Their expected course is to terminate the errant nurse and report her to the BON.  They can certainly be sued for a nurse's error or malfeasance.

You never know if your employer will defend you or throw you under the bus.  For this reason the standard advice is to contact your own carrier as soon as you become aware of a problem.  You're paying them to have your back.  You can't count on anyone else.

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

19 hours ago, JKL33 said:

The OP's situation does not involve an opposing attorney.

I must have missed something. I thought that the hospital she used to work that was been sued. Therefore there would have to be a plaintiff atty, and the defense atty for the hospital. Therefore the opposing counsel is the plaintiff atty. What did I miss?

[JKL33]

8 hours ago, Hannahbanana said:

I must have missed something. I thought that the hospital she used to work that was been sued. Therefore there would have to be a plaintiff atty, and the defense atty for the hospital. Therefore the opposing counsel is the plaintiff atty. What did I miss?

I don't know. I'm not even sure we're talking about the same things half the time. ?

The attorney that sent her the letter working is the attorney of the OP's former employer. I would not think to call that "opposing." I would call the plaintiff's attorney the opposing attorney. The plaintiff's attorney did not contact the OP.

I'm not going back to read all the posts. From memory, I thought you replied to Tricia something like, "nah, don't contact opposing attorney."

I then said that "the OP's situation does not involve an opposing attorney." The OP is not involved in a lawsuit. The "OP's situation" is that s/he received a letter from an attorney. It wasn't the opposing attorney (plaintiff's attorney).

[TriciaJ, RN]

Right.  The OP got a letter from the former employer's attorney, which is not the "opposing" attorney.  That would be the plaintiff's attorney, from whom the OP did NOT receive a letter.

Clear as mud?

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

Gotcha, Tricia, thanks. 
As to the hospital suing the nurse, won’t happen. However, when the hospital’s insurance pays a judgment to a plaintiff for plaintiff injury caused by nursing, they are legally allowed to attempt to recover their losses from the nurse regardless of what the hospital told the nurse about protecting her; at that point it’s out of the hospital’s hands. How convenient for them, eh?

Realistically, this doesn’t happen often. But this is yet another reason why the nurse should have malpractice insurance that provides her with her own attorney, to protect her interests, because she cannot depend on the hospital to do that.