Getting into a nursing negligence case these days is not as unimaginable as it was decades ago. This is a fact that all of us nurses must face. Just a few years ago, I had a friend whos got herself a nursing negligence claim in Mississippi. She got into trouble because the doctor blamed her for an order she allegedly missed. She didnt know what to do or who to call and it was too late for me to help her. I guess that's how they do nursing negligence cases in Mississippi.
As nurses increasingly find themselves named as individual defendants in medical malpractice cases, issues related to legal representation arise. Hospital nurses covered under the liability policy of their employer find themselves represented by an attorney whose client is actually the hospital.
The near unavoidable circumstance of conflict of interest is manifested differently among the hospital and the nurses who are under its umbrella of management. Separate legal representation is required if the representation of one client will have an adverse effect on the representation of another.
This is where a nursing negligence defense attorney will be or help to a nurse. Nurses need personal counsel to protect their individual interests. For example, discovery issues, including possible assertions of privilege, may be very important to the nurse personally but not very important to the hospital. Furthermore, situations may arise where the nurse cannot be represented fully by the hospital for conflicting of goals and interest in any nursing or medical negligence case. Or a nurse may be very interested in settling a claim to avoid personal exposure while the hospital would prefer to try the case.
As is mentioned above, a physician will often blame the nursing staff for a medical injury. When the physician is an employee of the hospital or may be considered an agent whose negligence will be legally imputed to the hospital, the interests of the nurses are frequently sacrificed.The mere possibility of divided loyalty should raise the question whether common representation is permissible. There is little doubt that conflicting interests among defendants in medical negligence cases are a very real problem. The nurse's interests would be better protected by personal counsel in nearly every case.
Providing excellent nursing care may not prevent you from being named in a malpractice suit, but having the sense to carry your own individual professional liability insurance policy will certainly help relieve worries about adequate representation as well as help protect your best interests.
Abuse of nurses whether be in Mississippi or wherever is the same. It would help a lot more if we will be more vigilant in carrying out our work as advocates of patients.
Unknown
May 8, 2009 at 4:06 AM
I completely agree.
There are some mighty fine PI blogs out there;
perhaps you could do a post highlighting those.