If you care for patients, you still need liability insurance
As part of an unofficial poll I casually asked some nurse and physician colleagues whether they would attend an educational session on the need for liability insurance. I was surprised to find many said while they thought the topic was interesting and important, they would not attend. Their rationale was that they do not care for patients and therefore no longer have the need for insurance.
Uh oh….why did that concern me!?!? What many of my nurse and physician colleagues do not realize is that you can still have an official complaint against your professional license whether you care for patients or not. Anyone with an active (or in some circumstances, even an inactive) professional license can have an official complaint brought against their license! The reality is that you can also be sued too, but we will save the nuances of that for another day.
Many liability insurance carriers will cover the costs of an attorney to provide you legal counsel during the complaint process if you maintain coverage (I would encourage checking on this with enrollment or renewal). The right coverage is not exclusive to lawsuits.
Professional Licensure Complaints
The complaint will initially require a response from you. You are strongly urged to not respond to this on your own. Your response may make it harder to defend your actions at a later date at a hearing. A complaint initially leads to an information gathering/discovery phase (your response, evidence collected, documents, initial filings, etc). Depending on the results of the early stages, the process may end up ultimately in an official hearing.
A hearing is quite similar to a trial in a court. It is an official and formal legal proceeding, but it is through the administrative law process as opposed to the local, state or federal court systems. There are opposing sides each with counsel similar to a prosecutor and a defense attorney and a hearing officer who acts similarly to a judge. The defense attorney defends the clinician whom the allegation is made against.
Experienced Attorneys in Licensure Defense are a Necessity
It can be a very serious event, and this is why it is not only so important to not respond to the initial complaint by yourself, but to also enlist the services of an attorney experienced in professional licensure defense to manage the whole case. Depending on the event, allegation, evidence, manner in which it is defended and more, the complaint could end in a censure, a suspension or even a revocation of license (this is not meant to be an exhaustive list, the available penalties will vary in different states for example).
Even if you do not see patients, somebody can make a complaint against your professional license. If you are a faculty member, a student could choose to make a complaint about your guidance or your professionalism. A colleague could make a complaint. If you write articles or speak at events, an attendee could make an allegation that you gave wrong information or even did not act in accordance as to what a professional clinician should act like (for nurses they may allege a violation of the nurse practice act for example).
Anyone Can Make a Professional Licensure Complaint Against You
The truth is anyone can really make a complaint. Somebody who just doesn’t like you for no good reason could actually file a formal complaint with the Board of Registration in Nursing or Medicine where you are licensed. This is why it is so vital to have a legal advocate fighting for your side to show the complaint is frivolous. And even if it is not frivolous, you want to be defended zealously so you are not more harshly penalized than is appropriate.
Professional boards are required to follow up on all complaints. So, if you think to yourself it is not serious and nothing will come of it, you still need to champion for yourself and the best way to do this is to hire an experienced attorney. This is your livelihood! You worked hard to obtain your license and you do not want to lose it. Furthermore, it is your professional reputation. You don’t want it impacted by a complaint that could have been handled better and possibly even dismissed.
Just One of the Many Reasons Coverage is Recommended
A professional licensure complaint is just one of the many reasons why you may want to consider still maintaining liability insurance even if you do not currently see patients!