Soap on the Rope: Medication Errors, Patient Injury or Death, and the Nurse. But what about Magnet?

A number of factors can contribute to a medication error(s) in a hospital. It is interesting to see how some hospitals handle a medication error(s), which caused or contributed to patient harm or death; the discipline slopes downhill.

I have been contacted by four nurses this year who work in hospitals and who have been involved in serious medication errors. Two of the cases involved a patient death and two involved serious injury.

None of the nurses have their own professional liability insurance policy with a license defense benefit. Do you know how scary it is to be in this type of situation? You don't realize how bad you need your insurance policy until something like this happens. This is the kind of stress that leads hair loss, bleeding ulcers, mind numbing headaches, and taking a combo of meds everyday to remain functional.

You are flying blind so please take your blinders off because your interests may not be the same as the interests of the Hospital in the forthcoming litigation.

Did you know that nurses are sued individually and named as defendants in med mal and negligence cases? See the NSO RN Claims Study. https://www.nso.com/pdfs/db/rnclaimstudy.pdf?fileName=rnclaimstudy.pdf&folder=pdfs/db&isLiveStr=Y&refID=rnstudy

What's even more interesting is some hospitals, depending on where the hospital is in the Magnet process, leave the nurses dangling like soap on a rope. Maybe we will report it to the Nursing Board, but what about Magnet? Maybe we will self report to JCAHO, but what about Magnet? What if this is leaked to the media and the press, what about Magnet? Should we apologize to the family and settle outside of litigation, what about Magnet?

Hospitals have insurance and are prepared for lawsuits so therefore its not the lawsuits that keep the C-Suite officers at up a night in these types of cases. Hospitals have a team of lawyers ready and willing to investigate and litigate these cases.

What about Magnet is the million dollar question, not what about the nurse?

Guess what if you don't have your own professional liability insurance policy and you are involved in a serious or medication error(s), then you are going to need a heap of cash, baby. Why?

You may need your own personal counsel in the medical malpractice case (can you say evergreen retainer and $250.00 an hour for attorney fees depending on the law firm?) and you will most certainly need attorney representation when this is reported to the State Nursing Board.

Or you can do what most nurses do anyway: follow the advice and counsel of the hospital management, risk management, and attorneys, not seek independent legal advice and continue to be the soap on the  rope. Its only your nursing career, your license, your livelihood, your life, and your assets.