Going Bare: Is it Ethical?

The majority of nurses (RNs and LPNs) don't carry their own professional liability insurance policy. I have professional liability insurance to cover my consulting firm and my practice as a home health RN and I also have a separate policy for my law firm.

Why? The same reason why I purchase medical, dental, and other insurance. I want the coverage to protect my myself.

I had a meeting with a prospective client last week, who later retained me to represent her before a state board of nursing. She cancelled her policy two years ago after being told by hospital risk management staff that the policy was unnecessary because nurses are covered by the hospital's policies.

Going bare in this post refers to a nurse not having his or her own professional liability insurance policy. In this post, relying on your employer's policy is not considered "insurance" unless you are provided with a copy of the policy(ies), you are provided with updates on the status of the policy(ies) whenever renewed, modified, etc., and your name and your title with your employer is specifically mentioned in the policy.

Is is ethical not to have your own professional liability insurance policy? Or would you say that it has nothing to do with ethics and it is strictly a business decision whether or not a nurse purchases his/her own professional liability insurance? What do you think?