RN insurances

KacyLynnRN · Jun 5, 2004

I have NSO malpractice insurance I carry myself...some people don't carry their own malpractice insurance but I think it is very smart to do so...CYA...I have NSO, and with the 1st year as a new grad you get 50% off, and even after that it is fairly inexpensive, about $80-100 a year, depending on if you're an LPN or RN.

Their website is: http://www.nso.com

My medical insurance is fairly inexpensive through the hospital I work at, about $30 a month. Life insurance is provided to me at no cost.

Make sure when you are job-hunting you ask about benefits...good benefits can really make the job sometimes. Good luck! :)

Nurse Ratched, RN · Jun 5, 2004

https://allnurses.com/forums/showpost.php?p=717459&postcount=17

I refer you to an excellent previous post on the subject of Liability Insurance with specific attention to number 4 on the reasons why we should carry it.

mscsrjhm · Jun 7, 2004

https://allnurses.com/forums/showpost.php?p=717459&postcount=17
I refer you to an excellent previous post on the subject of liability insurance with specific attention to number 4 on the reasons why we should carry it.

Over the many years I have been a nurse, I have heard the advice both ways. While I have never been sued, I have observed a few cases over the years.

Yes, I have my own insurance. I purchase the maximum amount I can find.

1. Who guarantees that you are going to be sued while at work? You can be sued for anything, reasonable or not -- giving advice to a friend, for example, while not at work. Your hospital will not cover you then. ... and if it's not an emergency, the "Good Samaritan Laws" may not apply. Also, even if the court finds in your favor, you will still have lots of legal bills to pay -- and your employer will not pay for them.

Answer: malpractice insurance because you gave advice to a friend? Come on... this is reaching.

Answer: Court? are you kidding? only 4% of all suit filed actually go to court. By the time they DO get to court, the attorneys have spent tons of their own money, so they really expect a better return, or they have invested so much that they just take the "gamble"

2. As others have said, there is no guarantee that your employer will have your best interst at heart. They might want to make a quick settlement to reduce their legal costs and keep the case out of the newpaper. But if that settlement implies that you did something wrong, it might not be in YOUR best interest to settle. Having YOUR OWN legal counsel is in your best interest. Remember, the hospital's legal counsel works for them, not you.

Answer: the employer, insurance, and insurance attorneys do not have your best interest in mind. Plaintiff's want a settlement, Respondents lawyers want billable hours, Insurance Company wants a settlement. Most settlements contain a confidentiality provision. (You cannot direct your own legal counsel. It is naive to think you can. Your malpractice insurance lawyers are working for the Insurance company- NOT YOU. ) The hospital's legal counsel wants to make its employees look like Florence Perfect Nightingale.

3. The idea that "they won't go after you" if you don't have insurance has always sounded like the biggest crock in the world to me. Most of us accumulate some assets over the course of our lifetimes ... our homes, our bank accounts, our cars, our retirement accounts, our kids' college funds, etc. You get insurance to protect THESE assets from being taken by a lawsuit. If someone is angry enough (or unscrupulous enough) to sue you, they may not care whether or not you have insurance or not: they may take whatever they can get. To "go bare" in the hopes that people whose lives your mistake may have devastated will avoid suing you because you don't have insurance seems beyond naive.

Answer: If someone is angry enough to sue you, that doesn't mean their attorney is angry at you. I cannot reiterate enough: The law is not about 'feelings'. Lawyers use "contingency fees" ("we don't get money until you do".) Lawyers use their own money for: records, postage, professional experts, nurse consultants, physician consultants, filing fees, travel, depositions, court reporters, copies of transcripts, etc. They spend alot of money just finding out if they even have a case. I saw one case go one for over 3 1/2 years, with depositions, experts, etc, and then the respondents' attorneys came up with additional prior medical records that just wiped out the plaintiffs case. The firm lost thousands on that case.

Answer: If someone is angry enough to sue you by personally paying an attorney, without contingency... then you have made a multi-millionaire angry. No one else can afford to sue. Attorneys make 150$ to 400$ per hour, plus all other expenditures...

4. Finally, if you should happen to make a mistake and inadvertantly hurt someone ... don't you WANT to be in a position to compensate them adequately? Isn't it our moral obligation to make reparations for the mistakes that we make? To try to weasel out of that responsibility by not paying a small insurance premium seems to be the total absence of professional accountability.

Answer: This may be the most naive paragraph of all. Yes, if we made a mistake, we would want to compensate. However, the system doesn't work that way. No one is trying to weasel out of admitting mistakes, no one is denying professional accountability. We can admit, and by admitting that we are human, we make mistakes, and we are always searching for better ways, THAT is professional accountability.

The scenario made by these four points is a fairy tale. This is not the way it works. People do not just run to a lawyer, say they want to sue, and 'boom' it is done. Lawyers are not in this for the principle, or we would see them beside the road with their signs "Lawyer- Hungry- taking cases on principle- please give a dollar"

Again, my anger is directed at the Insurance companies, CEOs, attorneys, and other scoundrels who are handing out the above scenarios like candy, and we, as naive, caring, hardworking, decent professionals lap it up.

This is just not the way that the law works. It angers me that we keep the feeding a system that utilizes naive, decent, good people in order to make a buck.

Mschrisco