Protect yourself from nurse lawsuits and other legal issues

“The nurse didn’t even get a fair trial and was already found guilty of being a murderer,” said Dolnick, CEO of Legal Nurses for Justice, a company that gives legal advice to lawyers and health care providers. “There are always two sides to these stories and unfortunately the nurse is often destroyed before anyone realizes what really happened.”

He wonders whether others is perhaps at fault, whether the drugs was labeled accurately by the pharmacy or whether the fallacious dose was within the fridge – amongst other potential problems.

Being criminally charged with harming a patient would likely rank amongst nurses’ top 10 worst fears, together with being sued for skilled negligence or losing their license to practice. However, there are some things nurses can do to guard themselves.

Nurses are afraid of lawsuits

Since Dolnick began her company in 2009, she has noticed that nurses have gotten an increasing number of afraid lawsuits found that as working conditions deteriorate in lots of facilities, health care organizations appear more willing to shirk responsibility when nurses face criminal charges.

According to evaluation Of the greater than 4,600 incidents that led to malpractice lawsuits between 2018 and 2021, nurses were involved in 18% of the cases. Researchers identified 850 specific incidents by which nurses were directly involved in care that led to an alleged medical error.

While fear of legal repercussions has increased within the nursing community, attorneys like Dolnick and Nancy Brent, MS, JD, RN, are wanting to educate nurses on ways to guard themselves. Understanding the legal process and learning to advocate for nurses yourself can reduce the chance of legal problems, Dolnick said.

Document all the things

One of the important thing strategies nurses can use to guard themselves is detailed documentation. Dolnick’s team worked on the case of a nurse whose patient died of sepsis attributable to an infected wound. The wound was minor at first, but it surely got worse inside every week.

The nurse documented her interactions with the patient and staff, including requests for help from physicians and hospital management. Despite her efforts, she reportedly received little help. The family filed a lawsuit, and the nurse’s documentation helped exonerate her.

Over the past decade, Dolnick has seen how unclear documentation can fail to guard nurses in lawsuits. “A detailed picture of the patient’s condition and response to treatment is needed because this leaves less room for interpretation,” she said.

For example, “The patient woke up after surgery and will continue to be monitored” will not be detailed enough. Encourages nurses to record what time the patient woke up, what observations they made after waking up, vital signs, and whether any postoperative complications occurred.

Another vague statement is: “Educated patient, verbalizes understanding.” For example, if a nurse is teaching a patient how one can use a nebulizer, she should document details of what the patient was taught – similar to the right dosage, frequency of use, and potential unwanted side effects – and knowledge concerning the planned treatment. a follow-up visit with the patient’s doctor to observe progress.

Although many legal remedies require additional time, Dolnick relies on these details when gathering evidence in cases. It’s also prudent to review policies and procedures before starting a task, Dolnick said.

“Even with something as simple as putting in an IV, there are certain steps that ensure nurses don’t cause injury,” she said. “Nurses are very busy, and this can reduce the risk of error.”

Protect patient privacy

Lawsuits over patient confidentiality – protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and state laws – are also common, and Brent encourages nurses to be cautious when patients, friends or relatives ask for information that will initially seem harmless .

In one reported case, a nurse passed details about a patient to a former worker who was related to the patient. The former worker had power of attorney for the patient’s care, and the nurse believed it covered all legal matters.

“It was a violation because the nurse had never cared for the patient,” said Brent, a nurse attorney who runs a law firm in Wilmette, Illinois, and is a contract author for Nurse.com. Brent represents nurses in disciplinary proceedings before the state body and the nursing council.

Brent also urges nurses to think twice about their use of social media. In one case, a nurse posted a photograph she took at work with two other nurses. Although there have been no patients within the photo, a day by day task board with patient names and diagnoses was visible, violating patient confidentiality regulations.

Listen to your instincts

Confidence of their critical pondering skills is one other way nurses can protect themselves, Brent said. The case of RaDonda Vaught, a Tennessee nurse convicted of two felonies in March 2022 for a fatal drug error, highlighted the importance of clinical judgment.

Vaught’s patient at Vanderbilt University Medical Center was prescribed Versed, a sedative intended to calm the patient before a PET scan, but a nurse bypassed the doctor’s office and withdrew the fallacious drug. She by chance administered vecuronium, which led to muscle paralysis. As a result, the patient couldn’t breathe and died.

“There were warnings on the label and the drug was a powder that had to be dissolved, not a liquid like Versed,” Brent said. “If she had used critical thinking instead of assuming it was safe because the office dispensed the drug, the outcome might have been different.”

But even when Vaught had ignored those warnings and other government warning signals, the tragedy also exposed flaws within the hospital’s drug delivery system, Brent said. For example, the system likely lacked policies requiring nurses to confirm these numbing drugs with colleagues before administering them to patients.

United voices create change

While Brent and Dolnick share their knowledge of lawsuits and other legal complexities through blogs and other types of outreach, they agree that more education is required.

“Nurses should understand the legal ramifications of their practice, and that can’t be learned in one short nursing school course,” Brent said. “The legal implications of nursing practice should be emphasized throughout the educational experience.”

Dolnick and Brent suggest that nurses should secure their very own malpractice insurance relatively than counting on employers to insure them and advocate for systemic changes that may higher protect them.

“I see more and more nurses forming legal support groups and coming together when one of them is unfairly punished,” Dolnick said. “We must reverse the trend of criminalizing nurses working in environments that expose them to the risk of errors.”