At face value, the facts of your case do not suggest an exception to the statute of limitations, but if you speak to an attorney who can ask follow-up questions, he/she might conclude otherwise. If you think that you may have a viable malpractice case, you should contact a local medical malpractice attorney (one in your state).
Full Answer
Nurses seeking malpractice insurance should look for plans that include occurrence-based coverage as well as claims-made coverage. Occurrence-based coverage is a lifetime plan that covers incidents that occur no matter when you’re working or where you’re working, sometimes even into retirement so long as the incident occurred while insured.
In this article, we will discuss whether you can sue for medical malpractice years after treatment. The short answer is, yes, you can, since most states give you two to three years to bring a claim after malpractice occurs. The longer answer is, it depends on the type of injury and the state in which the claim is brought.
While doctors do see lawsuits at a higher rate, recently there has been an increase in nurses being sued. Hospitals and other employers oftentimes do not cover nurses in their malpractice insurance leaving a gap when an incident occurs.
For the prevention of malpractice, nurses should initiate this evaluation concerning everything they do in the clinical setting. More and more often, nurses are held accountable for their judgment and the results it leads to.
A retroactive date, or retroactive insurance, is a feature of claims-made policies (professional liability or errors and omissions) that determines whether your policy will cover losses that occurred in the past.
What Is Tail Coverage? Tail coverage is liability coverage for physicians that extends beyond their previous claims-made medical malpractice insurance coverage. It protects physicians when a former patient claims malpractice that took place during the physician's previous plan's coverage period.
It is important to understand the two basic types of malpractice insurance: "claims-made" and "occurrence." A claims-made policy will only provide coverage if the policy is in effect both when the incident took place and when a lawsuit is filed.
An Extended Reporting Period (also known as a “Tail policy”) can be purchased to extend the time in which a claim can be reported. This means that if a claim based on a wrongful act (actual or alleged) occurred within the policy period but was reported afterward, you will still be covered.
Buying tail coverage is a one-time purchase and payment is usually required promptly after your policy cancels. Most tail quotes are only good for 30-60 days and once the quote expires, you cannot have it reissued.
An Extended Reporting Period (ERP) is an optional coverage extension for a claims-made policy that gives the insured an additional period of time within which to report claims to the insurer arising from prior wrongful acts. Also referred to as Tail Coverage or Runoff.
The retroactive date is the earliest point in time that your insurance policy will cover an incident or dispute. It's sometimes called the retro date or retroactive date of inception.
There is no difference in the type of medical care or procedures that are covered under occurrence vs claims-made malpractice policies, but not all doctors will qualify for occurrence coverage.
Each of the specialties listed had a rate of claims more than double the average of all specialties, with neurosurgery having the most at 53.1 claims/1000 physician-years. Neurosurgery also had the highest mean payment from paid claims at $469,222 (dermatology had the lowest at $189,065).
Nose coverage is a feature of claims-made insurance that covers a mistake or oversight you made while insured under a previously terminated policy. Also known as prior acts coverage, it involves your new insurer extending its coverage to something you did in the past while you were insured by another carrier.
Review your medical professional liability insurance policy to determine whether free tail coverage is offered. Contact your insurance agent to determine the cost of obtaining tail coverage.
Tail coverage only applies to a claims-made policy. It extends the amount of time a claim can be brought against you and reported. Because it doesn't matter when a claim gets filed with occurrence insurance, as long as the loss occurred during your policy period, tail coverage isn't necessary.
Six major categories of negligence issues that lead to malpractice lawsuits were identified in the case review.
Malpractice is defined by JCAHO as “improper or unethical conduct or unreasonable lack of skill by a holder of a professional or official position; often applied to physicians, dentists, lawyers, and public officers to denote negligent or unskillful performance of duties when professional skills are obligatory.
Nurses need to be knowledgeable about the limitations, capabilities, and safety features of technologies.
Due to cost-containment efforts in HMO and hospitals, nurses delegate some of their duties to assistive personnel without proper licensure.
Negligence is defined by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) as a “failure to use such care as a reasonably prudent and careful person would use under similar circumstances.”
The nursing judgment includes the analysis of circumstances and facts based on every case. For the prevention of malpractice, nurses should initiate this evaluation concerning everything they do in the clinical setting. More and more often, nurses are held accountable for their judgment and the results it leads to.
Under the Safe Medical Devices Act of 1990, all incidents related to medical devices that can cause serious illness, injury, or death should be reported to the Food and Drug Administration and the manufacturer within 10 working days.
I am an RN, and I carry malpractice insurance. I have not had any problems. For the past 17 years, I was on staff in postanesthesia care. How long after full retirement should I carry this insurance?
This depends on your individual policy. Some policies are occurrence based, meaning coverage will be available at the time of a lawsuit, regardless of whether the policy still is in effect. If you do not have this type of policy, you likely can get a “tail” policy to cover you in case something comes up after you are no longer working.
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The short answer is, yes, you can, since most states give you two to three years to bring a claim after malpractice occurs. The longer answer is, it depends on the type of injury and the state in which the claim is brought.
Ex.: Texas has a two-year statute of limitations for medical malpractice cases, and has adopted the continuous treatment rule. If a doctor in Texas causes an injury during surgery, and continues to treat the patient for that injury for 4 more years, then the statute of limitations does not begin to run until the doctor has completed treatment. So, the patient in this example has a total of 6 years to file a lawsuit after the injury was inflicted.
New York has a two-and-a-half year statute of limitations for medical malpractice cases, set by New York Civil Practice Law and Rules section 214-a. Let's say a surgeon in New York negligently leaves a foreign object in a patient during surgery.
Some states also extend the statute of limitations for patients who were infants and/or minors when they were harmed, for a certain number of years after treatment, or even until the patient reaches the age of majority (18 years old). Ex.:
Why is the statute of limitations deadline so important? If you try to file your claim after the deadline has passed, the health care provider you're trying to sue us sure to make a motion to dismiss the case, and the court is certain to grant it -- unless there's a reason to extend the deadline as it applies to your case, including the exceptions we've discussed in this article.
In this example, the patient still has time to sue because New York has adopted a 1 year discovery rule. This patient actually has 1 year after discovery of the object to file a lawsuit. (Note, however, that if there is proven evidence that the plaintiff missed the statute of limitations because the object should have been discovered earlier ...
If this happened in a state with a 10 year infancy toll, then the infant has until he or she is 10 years old to file the lawsuit.
Malpractice insurance, also known as professional liability insurance, protects licensed professionals from liabilities associated with wrongful practices resulting in injuries or damages. It also helps them with the cost of defending themselves in lawsuits that are related to those claims. 6
Even when you do everything according to proper procedure, defending yourself against claims can cost thousands of dollars, so professional liability insurance—also known as malpractice insurance—is a necessity to protect yourself. Malpractice insurance protects you if a client says you made a mistake or committed some accidental wrongdoing ...
In the past year, malpractice insurance premiums have increased for many professionals, especially internists, surgeons, and OB-GYNs .
Social workers aren't tied to one policy at one price but can instead customize an insurance package with packages that start at just $500 per year.
Social workers can use the tools to build their own insurance packages based on questions that directly address a social worker's business practices. If you don’t know what coverage you need, you can use the insurance assessment tool to see what kind of insurance you should get and what limits you need. Then, you can get an instant online quote. CoverWallet allows you to add general liability, professional liability, a business owner’s policy, and even commercial auto insurance into one personalized package. This ability to customize policies at affordable prices makes CoverWallet the best in our review for social workers.
The Healthcare Providers Service Organization is our choice as the best insurer for therapists because their policies are designed for the unique professional risks of practices where patients may visit offices or work with counselors via telemedicine. The company has been in operation for 30 years and has provided malpractice insurance to over 96,000 counselors nationwide.
Social workers can use the tools to build their own insurance packages based on questions that directly address a social worker's business practices. If you don’t know what coverage you need, you can use the insurance assessment tool to see what kind of insurance you should get and what limits you need.
If you terminate a claims-made policy, the insurance company often suggests purchasing “tail insurance” that will cover any claims filed after the termination of the policy. The cost of these types of policies vary, and they are often more costly than the claims-made policy itself.
Claims-made policies will cover a claim or lawsuit filed while the professional liability insurance policy is in effect. An occurrence policy, in contrast, will cover a claim filed even after the insurance is no longer in existence, as long as the incident that gave rise to the suit occurred while the policy was in effect. As you can probably tell, occurrence policies are more expensive.
As you can probably tell, occurrence policies are more expensive.