Purchasing Insurance For License Complaints

I highly recommend that you purchase individual insurance with license protection benefits.  Most employer policies only cover professional negligence claims resulting from care that the nurse provides at the employer’s facility.  Employer policies typically DO NOT provide license protection benefits. For example, Nurse Tommy performed several dressing changes on Patient X while the patient was in the ICU recovering from a motor vehicle accident.  Patient X acquired an infection and sued Nurse Tommy for medical malpractice related to the dressing change that he performed. The employer’s policy covered the cost of Nurse Tommy’s legal defense in the medical malpractice court case.  

Patient X also filed a complaint with the State Board of Nursing against Nurse Tommy’s license.  The employer’s policy did not cover the cost of Nurse Tommy’s legal defense before the State Board of Nursing.  However, Nurse Tommy has an individual policy that cover his legal defense in professional licensing actions (up to an applicable limit).  This is great news because Nurse Tommy can use his individual policy to hire an attorney to defend him before the Board of Nursing. There are policies that cost as little as $150- $200 per year!  You can find these policies by doing a quick internet search. Attorneys’ fees for license defense matters can be very expensive, and every nurse should seek legal representation if they are summoned to appear before the Board of Nursing.