Help, I’m Being Sued!

These are the words of a nurse’s biggest nightmare. The last thing we want to do is to be sued in a medical malpractice case. But the good news is that it is unlikely that you will be sued because attorneys typically name the hospital. The hospitals have insurance, and they don’t know whether the nurse does.

So, typically the hospital is named because the facility is responsible for the actions of their employees when they are acting within the scope of their employment. Should you commit an intentional act or perform outside the scope of your duty, the hospital may not have a duty to represent you.

The healthcare facilities have the “deep pockets” and typically have the insurance that would cover these claims. Attorneys know that a nurse is unlikely to have the funds to pay if they are sued for any substantial judgment. However, the

I have received calls from nurses saying, “I got a notice that they want to take my deposition.” If you are not named in a suit and you are requested for a deposition, your employer or previous employer should cover you for that.

If that happens, get in touch with the facility’s attorney. But if you have your own insurance, you are entitled to your own attorney because if your interests are different than your healthcare facility, your attorney will be your advocate and speak up for you and protect you so the facility cannot throw you under the bus.

Malpractice is a fancy word for “negligence: a civil wrong. There are four elements that an attorney must prove: (1) duty, (2) breach, (3) cause, and (4) harm. Let’s say you are driving and have a duty to stop at an intersection but blow the stop sign, you may get a traffic ticket! If no one is hurt, that is not negligence. But if you do fail to stop at a stop sign and hit another vehicle with the right-of-way causing an injury, that is negligence.

In nursing, you have a duty to give the proper medication. If a physician orders aminophylline but you give ampicillin and the patient is not allergic, you may have made a medical error, but it did not cause harm.

If you give ampicillin instead of aminophylline and the patient has no untoward effects, it is not malpractice. If the patient has an allergic reaction and must spend the night in ICU, then there is harm, and that is malpractice.

Fortunately, much of what we do in nursing does not create harm, but often failing to notice changing conditions and failing to call the physician is one of the biggest areas of malpractice as would be failing to follow your facilities policies and procedures because that sets the standard of care and shows what is your duty.

Therefore, if you do become involved in a malpractice action, your attorney will assist you through this process, whether it be through your own insurance or that of your employer or previous employer.