Is Personal Malpractice Insurance Worth It?

Becoming a nurse is all about caring about other people and wanting to bring them comfort and wellness. Despite our best efforts, we sometimes fail.

When such situations arise and patient demand justice for what happened, it’s important to know that you can protect your nursing career. Mistakes can be made by anyone after all. Not only that but allegations against you can be made regardless of whether you contributed to the harm claimed.  It can be an incredibly stressful time so it’s best to be prepared for anything.

If a patient is suing you – and it can happen more easily than you want to imagine – then personal malpractice insurance can come in handy. Although your employer’s policy covers you, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee you full protection. It is important to remember that their policy is not necessarily designed to protect you but rather to protect them – so you should never solely rely on this. At the same time, you want to make sure you ask all the necessary questions to find out how much your employer’s insurance covers you.

What Is Medical Malpractice and Why Do I Need Protection?

To find the right coverage, you need to understand what a medical malpractice means. It is a wrongful act done by a medical professional in the administration of treatment or through the omission of a needed medical treatment. The three dimensions that define a medical malpractice are someone who has a duty of care and yet fails at exercising their duty, resulting in an injury or damage. Anywhere along the chain between the three, something can happen and the patient can just decide for further justice. You can read more about it here.

It might be tricky to believe your employer will cover you at all times because it simply isn’t true. If a conflict of interests between you and your employer arises at any point, you are sure to be at a loss unless you have your own policy. Moreover, many employers might even suggest that having personal malpractice insurance is not necessary because they want to be in charge in case anything happens. Having a policy of your own implies that you will be able to be represented by your attorneys instead of theirs – which is, by all means, risky for an employer.

There’s another good reason why you need personal insurance. In case, a patient sues you and you are covered by your employer’s insurance, you might end up even having to pay for legal costs that exceed your employer’s shared liability limits. Or you might even have to pay for damages in case the patient is awarded a settlement. Since all these unwanted costs are not that easy to foresee, you do not want to take that chance. And, it’s not that expensive to get covered either. An approximate coverage of $1,000,000 per year will only cost you around $100 for an annual policy.

Page 2: Why aren’t more nursing buying it?