5 Things for Nurses to Consider Before Purchasing Liability Insurance

Just about all of us have read stories about people who went to a doctor’s office or hospital, didn’t receive the kind of care that they needed or expected and as a direct result and then filed a malpractice suit. Some of the people who filed won thousands, if not millions of dollars. Many others, did not. But if you ask any medical professional if it’s important to have liability insurance as a way to protect yourself as it relates to these kinds of experiences, we’re pretty sure that all of them would say “yes”.

Now understandably, it would make sense that a doctor would need liability insurance, but if you’re a nurse, is it just as important? Well, being that these days, main lawsuits happen to include the names of everyone who was directly associated with a patient’s case, it is a good idea. The only real exceptions are if your employer is willing to provide it for you or there is some stipulation at your job that prevents you from getting a policy.

But if neither issue is the case for you and you’re looking to get some good liability insurance, we wanted to include a list of five things that as a nurse, you should strongly consider before making a purchase below:

Consider the different kinds of coverage. One thing that is important to know is the different kinds of liability insurance that is available to you. There’s claims coverage that is usually what your employer will purchase to cover you while you’re at work only. There’s occurrence coverage that covers you basically anywhere that you go. Knowing which one is best for you basically depends on what your personal needs and preferences are.

Think about if you need additional insurance. In most cases, nurses do not need to take out additional insurance for the sake of having more coverage. That is usually something that doctors who deal with high-risk situations (like OB-GYNs) will get. But if you are in your own high-risk profession, like a nurse anesthetist, it may be something that you might want to consider. Discuss it with your insurance sales agent in order to get their insight on what may be best.

Determine if legal fees are included. Something that a lot of people are not prepared for is filing an insurance claim only to realize that their insurance company actually does not cover their legal fees, and those expenses can tend to get pretty expensive. This is why you should definitely look for a company that will include covering legal fees. Please get that confirmed on the front end before signing on the dotted line.

Check out the reputation of the insurance company itself. Before you went to a school for CNA training , you researched how reputable the school was first, right? Along these same lines, it’s important that you look into the reputation of the insurance company that you are considering to make sure that it’s stable and also to see if it’s had any legitimate complaints filed against it. One way that you can do this is by going to the AM Best website. It specializes in providing news and credit ratings for the insurance industry.

Double-check to see what’s excluded from the coverage on the policy. Just about every contract has “small print”. In the case of liability insurance, look for what’s actually excluded from coverage. If you read all of the stipulations and discuss it with the insurance agent, you’ll be glad that you did.