As a licensed nurse, you are likely well aware of the malpractice risks that nurses and other healthcare professionals face. You are also likely aware of the availability of nursing malpractice insurance. You may also have information or beliefs about whether your state requires you to have nursing malpractice insurance and, if not, whether nursing malpractice insurance would be prudent and beneficial. The following information lists states that require or do not require malpractice insurance. We also address below the potential penalties for violating a state nursing board malpractice insurance requirement and the procedures to contest those penalties. We also discuss some of the terms, conditions, benefits, and issues of nursing malpractice insurance. Retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team for your nursing license defense information and issues by calling 888.535.3686 or completing this contact form now.
Table of State-by-State Requirements
|
State |
Malpractice Insurance |
Citation |
|
Alabama |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Alaska |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Arkansas |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Arizona |
Not required |
Research review |
|
California |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Colorado |
Required |
|
|
Connecticut |
Required for APRNs |
|
|
Delaware |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Florida |
Required w/ exceptions |
|
|
Georgia |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Hawaii |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Idaho |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Illinois |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Indiana |
Required for damages cap |
|
|
Iowa |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Kansas |
Required |
|
|
Kentucky |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Louisiana |
Required for damages cap |
|
|
Maine |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Maryland |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Massachusetts |
Required for APRNs |
|
|
Michigan |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Minnesota |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Mississippi |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Missouri |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Montana |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Nebraska |
Required for damages cap |
|
|
Nevada |
Not required |
Research review |
|
New Hampshire |
Not required |
Research review |
|
New Jersey |
Required for students |
|
|
New Mexico |
Not required |
Research review |
|
New York |
Not required |
Research review |
|
North Carolina |
Not required |
Research review |
|
North Dakota |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Ohio |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Oklahoma |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Oregon |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Pennsylvania |
Required for CRNPs/CNSs |
|
|
Rhode Island |
Not required |
Research review |
|
South Carolina |
Not required |
Research review |
|
South Dakota |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Tennessee |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Texas |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Utah |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Vermont |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Virginia |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Washington |
Not required |
Research review |
|
West Virginia |
Not required |
Research review |
|
Wisconsin |
Required for APRNs |
|
|
Wyoming |
Not required |
Research review |
Summary of State-by-State Requirements
States Requiring Nursing Malpractice Insurance
Research into state requirements, confirmed by other research source, indicates that these states require nursing malpractice insurance at least for some nurses under some practice settings: Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. For instance, nurses practicing in higher risk fields, particularly advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), may need to maintain malpractice insurance, whereas other nurses (LPNs, RNs) in the same state may not. Check with your state insurance regulatory authority for updated information and for specifics on which nurses may need to maintain malpractice insurance. State insurance regulations or healthcare licensing board regulations may require malpractice insurance for other healthcare professionals but not for nurses. Rhode Island is an example requiring malpractice insurance for medical and dental professionals but not nurses under 230 Rhode Island Code of Regulations 20-10-1.5.
States Requiring Nursing Malpractice Insurance for Damages Cap
Research into state requirements, confirmed by other research source, indicates that these states require malpractice insurance to participate in the state's medical malpractice liability reforms including a cap on damages: Indiana, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, and New York. Other states may require other healthcare professionals to carry malpractice insurance to have the protection of a damages cap. Wyoming is an example, requiring physicians to carry malpractice insurance to limit their liability to the statutory $1,000,000 cap under Wyoming Statutes Section 26-33-102. Check with your state insurance regulatory authority for updated information.
States Not Requiring Nursing Malpractice Insurance
Research into state requirements, confirmed by other insurance broker summary, indicate that these states do not require malpractice insurance: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming. States not requiring nurses to maintain malpractice insurance for licensure may require nurses to maintain malpractice insurance to provide nursing care under Medicare or other government programs, as California does for Medi-Cal participation. Check with your state insurance regulatory authority for updated information.
What Is Nursing Malpractice?
To understand your need for nursing malpractice insurance, you may need a reminder of what nursing malpractice is. Nursing malpractice arises when a nurse's departure from or breach of the nursing standard of care is the proximate or legal cause of a patient's injury and loss or damage. Nurses practice according to professional nursing standards established by the customs of the profession. The standard of care, typically confirmed in malpractice litigation by nursing expert witnesses, determines things like the reasonably safe and effective protocols for patient monitoring, hygiene, nutrition, hydration, transfer, ambulation, medication, and so forth through all patient-care duties of the nurse. Failure to follow the standard of care does not alone make a nursing malpractice claim, if the patient suffers no injury. The breach or departure must cause the patient an injury for the patient to have a nursing malpractice claim.
What Is Nursing Malpractice Insurance?
Nursing malpractice insurance is an agreement, contract, or related obligation of a private insurance company or liability pool to pay damages, up to the insurance's limit, that a nurse owes related to the nurse's violation of nursing standards causing patient injury. Nursing malpractice insurance often also pays for the nurse's defense of the patient's malpractice lawsuit, meaning that the insurer hires and compensates the defense attorneys and pays expert witness fees, court fees, and similar litigation expenses. A nurse with full and adequate malpractice insurance coverage to pay for all the patient's awarded damages should bear no expense if sued for nursing malpractice.
Claims Nursing Malpractice Covers
The claims that nursing malpractice insurance covers vary depending on the individual policy. Generally, nursing malpractice insurance covers civil court damages claims patients bring against the covered nurse related to the nurse's alleged violation of nursing standards. The core patient claim that nursing malpractice insurance covers is a personal injury that the patient suffers from the nurse's breach of nursing standards. The personal injury may involve the advance of patient disease, loss of patient function, contracting of new disease, suffering of new disability, broken bones, and other patient injury, including wrongful death. The personal injury may be from a fall, improper handling, improper medication or failure to medicate, failure to monitor, improper or inadequate hygiene or other personal care, or any other breach of nursing standards. The covered damages may include the patient's pain, suffering, loss of function, lost enjoyment of life, and mental or emotional distress, both past and future for whatever duration it continues, plus the patient's medical expense and lost wages and benefits from lost ability to work.
Depending on the policy and special optional coverage or provided riders, nursing malpractice insurance may also cover nurse civil liability for patient defamation claims, claims for breach of confidentiality including HIPAA violations, and other claims relating to nursing professional negligence. Nursing malpractice insurance policies are less likely to cover intentional tort claims a nurse commits against a patient like physical or sexual assault. Nursing malpractice insurance policies may or may not cover patient claims for personal property theft, damage, or loss.
Nursing Malpractice Insurance Coverage Periods
Nursing malpractice insurance policies have coverage periods, typically from year to year beginning with when the nurse or the nurse's employer first purchases the coverage. Nursing malpractice insurance thus typically requires annual renewal. The policy period determines the claims that the insurer must cover. In that respect, nursing malpractice insurers sell two different types of policies. The first type of policy, known as a claims made policy, covers claims that arose during the policy period and that the patient made within the policy period. The second type of policy, known as an occurrence policy, covers claims that arose during the policy period, whether the patient makes the claim within the policy period or later after the policy period ends. Claims made policies provide more limited coverage than occurrence policies, making claims made policies less expensive but less valuable.
Tail Coverage After Retirement
You may wonder what your need is for nursing malpractice insurance after you retire. If you maintained a claims made policy during your nursing practice, and the policy lapses when you retire, you would have no coverage for claims made by patients suing you after your retirement and the policy's lapse. Only an occurrence policy in place during your active nursing practice, when the patients' claims arose, would have continued to cover you after retirement. In that instance, nurses may purchase what is known as tail coverage to cover those potential late claims after retirement.
How Does a Nurse Acquire Malpractice Insurance?
You may, of course, buy your own nursing malpractice insurance. You will find malpractice insurers advertising online and in other forums. You will also find insurance brokers who will shop for nursing malpractice insurance, recommending to you the better policies on price and coverage. Once you complete the insurance application form, receive the insurer's commitment to insure, and pay the premium, you will have nursing malpractice insurance.
But you may not need to acquire your own nursing malpractice insurance. If a hospital, residential care facility, physician's office, medical clinic, or other entity employs you for nursing services, your employer may already insure you for nursing malpractice. Employers may offer nursing malpractice insurance as an employment benefit, making their job offer more attractive. But they may also insure their employed nurses simply to ensure that they do not incur a vicarious liability for a nurse's wrong, for which they have no insurance. In other words, your employer may not trust you to acquire adequate nursing malpractice insurance of your own and so may buy and provide it for you.
Traveling nurse agencies may not be so willing to provide nursing malpractice insurance, depending on their employment or independent contractor relationship with the nurses they assign for home care. Check with your employer or agency to determine if they are or are not providing nursing malpractice insurance. If they say that they are, then you may want to check the policy itself to see if the coverage limits are adequate and if the coverage is what you believe you need. You may wish to buy your own coverage.
Should I Get Nursing Malpractice Insurance?
If your employer does not already provide nursing malpractice insurance, and your state laws do not require it, then you should decide whether the insurance is wise and worth it. Generally, the risks of having to pay a nursing malpractice liability out of your individual assets and income are greater than the costs of the insurance. That's why a market for nursing malpractice insurance exists. You should probably have nursing malpractice insurance. It's likely worth it. However, your nursing practice risks may be low enough, and your personal finances may be peculiar enough in some way to make the insurance too expensive and not helpful enough.
For instance, you may practice nursing only on a very limited basis in a very low-risk practice setting like home care with relatively healthy and sound residents with whom you have a longstanding and trusted relationship. You may also have little income and few assets to protect, depending instead on Social Security retirement or disability benefits or other income exempt from malpractice judgment execution. You may, in other words, be uncollectible, making you a poor target for a nursing malpractice lawsuit, even if you did incur the liability through malpractice. You decide, on sound advice from a trusted insurance professional who knows your special circumstances.
Nursing Malpractice Insurance Limits
Nursing malpractice insurance does not generally cover all loss that a patient or the patient's estate may prove is due for the nurse's malpractice. Nursing malpractice insurance policies limit the coverage amount that they afford a nurse. A typical coverage limit for nursing malpractice insurance is $1,000,000, although nurses may find policies available for as little as $100,000 in coverage and amounts in between like $250,000 and $500,000. Nursing malpractice insurers are generally willing to sell nurses policies with coverage limits that the nurse chooses, as long as the nurse is willing to pay for higher limits. The cost of nursing malpractice insurance depends in part on the coverage limits, with higher limits costing a larger premium.
Nursing Malpractice Insurance Policy Dual Limits
Nursing malpractice insurance policies also commonly have dual individual claim and aggregate coverage limits such as $500,000 / $1,000,000 or $1,000,000 / $2,000,000. The first figure is the coverage limit for any individual claim that a patient may bring. The second figure is the coverage limit for the aggregate of all claims that multiple patients bring within the policy period. Thus, if two patients recover malpractice damages from a nurse with $1,000,000 / $2,000,000 dual limits, each patient could receive insurance up to $1,000,000. However, if a third patient were to recover malpractice damages in the same policy period after the first two patients exhausted the $2,000,000 aggregate limit, the third patient would have no remaining insurance to recover.
Nursing Malpractice Insurance Umbrella Policies
Nursing malpractice insurance umbrella policies covering liability beyond coverage limits may also be available. An umbrella policy with an additional $1 million or $5 million limit would pay up to that amount after the primary policy pays the first $1 million or other coverage limit amount, exhausting the primary policy. Umbrella coverage generally does not cost nearly as much as the primary policy because of its significantly less likely probability of having to pay. Price and consider umbrella coverage, especially if you have substantial income or assets to protect.
Excess Liability over Malpractice Insurance Limits
You may wonder what happens if the civil nursing malpractice liability you owe a patient exceeds the amount of your nursing malpractice insurance coverage limits. In theory, the patient could receive a civil court judgment against you for the full liability, collect the policy limits from your nursing malpractice insurer, and then pursue you for the leftover, unpaid amount, what is known as your excess liability. The Collection of excess liability could be out of your savings and other non-exempt brokerage accounts, although joint accounts held with your spouse may be exempt. The Collection could also be by execution against your non-exempt assets, generally personal or real property, that state exemptions do not protect, although, again, joint assets held with your spouse may be exempt. The Collection could also be by garnishment of your wages, leaving you only a portion of your wages for your own use. Excess judgment liability can also last for many years, such as ten years, and even be renewed for another ten years, depending on your state law. These are the risks that cause nurses to purchase nursing malpractice insurance if their employer does not already provide it and to increase coverage limits to higher amounts.
The Cost of Nursing Malpractice Insurance
The cost of nursing malpractice insurance can vary widely depending on a range of factors. Factors include your nursing education and licensure (whether an RN, LPN, APRN, etc.), years of experience, practice setting (hospital, residential facility, medical clinic, home care, etc.), claims history, and part-time or full-time status. A national nursing organization indicates an average annual cost of $100 per year, although many nurses will pay significantly more than that amount if practicing in high-risk markets or high-risk nursing fields. Higher coverage limits may increase the nursing malpractice insurance policy's premium costs. For instance, a policy for $500,000 of coverage would generally cost less than a policy for $1,000,000 in coverage, although increasing the policy limits may cost less than you think. Insurers will quote your policy costs. Shop around, and use the services of a malpractice insurance broker to do so for you.
Why States Require Nursing Malpractice Insurance
You may wonder why some states require nurses and other healthcare professionals to carry malpractice insurance. One good reason is that state legislatures want to ensure that patients injured by malpractice get the medical care, wage replacement, and other loss replacement that they need. Otherwise, those patients may end up depending on public welfare systems or may just go without critical support needs. State legislators could, in theory, also be influenced by insurance companies to mandate the purchase of their products.
Inducements to Purchase Malpractice Insurance
Whatever reasons state legislatures have for requiring or not requiring nursing malpractice insurance, several states have enacted legislation that incentivizes the purchase of malpractice insurance by healthcare professionals. You may want to take advantage of those incentives when deciding whether to purchase nursing malpractice insurance if not required by your state or provided by your employer. Malpractice lawsuits with exorbitant damages awards have discouraged insurers from offering malpractice insurance in some states and to some healthcare professions. The unavailability of malpractice insurance in a state may mean that healthcare professionals will not practice there, leaving the state's residents without essential care.
Thus, state legislatures in Indiana, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wyoming have enacted statutory schemes that cap malpractice damages at certain amounts, such as $500,000 or $1,000,000 in certain cases, while giving healthcare professionals access to that protective cap only if they purchase malpractice insurance. Those statutory schemes have worked to reopen the malpractice insurance market in those states, drawing insurers back to provide the coverage. Louisiana's statutory damages cap scheme is an example, codified in Louisiana Statutes Section 40:1231.7. If your nursing should cause severe injury to a patient whose damages run, say, into the millions of dollars, then your purchase of malpractice insurance would cap those damages in one of these participating states.
State Nursing Laws Authorizing Discipline
Your state legislature has enacted a nursing practice act or other nursing laws, and other laws governing insurance and civil malpractice liability. You may benefit from being generally familiar with those laws. State nursing practice acts establish state nursing boards to license nurses and regulate the practice of nursing through rules, standards, and disciplinary procedures. State nursing practice acts also authorize state nursing boards to adopt administrative rules or regulations. Your state nursing practice act and state nursing boards rules will authorize discipline if you violate a nursing rule or standard, including, for key instance, a state law requiring that you maintain nursing malpractice insurance. Be sure that you are complying with any such law in your state so that you do not face the state nursing board's disciplinary charges and sanctions.
Nursing Boards Discipline for Insurance Violations
If you violate a state law and nursing standard requiring that you must maintain nursing malpractice insurance, the discipline you face may be severe. State nursing practice acts and state nursing boards rules generally authorize a wide range of disciplinary sanctions from reprimand and probation all the way up to license suspension and revocation. The Colorado Nurse Practice Act and Colorado malpractice insurance laws are an example. The Colorado Nurse Practice Act Section 12-295-111 authorizes discipline for violating any nursing statute or standard. Colorado Code Section 12-255-112 requires advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) to maintain professional liability insurance. Violation of that provision would subject the nurse to Colorado Board of Nursing disciplinary charges and sanctions. If you practice in a state
The Incidence of Nursing Malpractice Claims
You may wonder how probable it is that you will face a malpractice lawsuit and civil liability to a patient. National Practitioner Databank analysis shows that patients file between 15,000 and 20,000 nursing malpractice lawsuits nationwide each year, more nursing malpractice lawsuits than malpractice lawsuits against any other category of healthcare practitioner. Of course, your likelihood of counting yourself among that unfortunate number depends on other factors already discussed above. However, there are a large number of nursing malpractice lawsuits.
Nursing Malpractice Lawsuit Outcomes
If you face a nursing malpractice lawsuit, your lawsuit is likely to result in a voluntary settlement. If you have nursing malpractice insurance, your insurer and its retained insurance defense counsel will negotiate on your behalf with the lawyer representing the plaintiff patient who has sued you. The nursing malpractice insurance policy likely gives the insurer authority to settle the lawsuit without your consent, although some policies require the insurer to gain the insured professional's agreement. If the case settles voluntarily, the parties will agree to the lawsuit's dismissal. Settlements of malpractice lawsuits are often confidential, but your state may require you to report malpractice settlements and judgments to your state nursing boards.
If the parties do not reach a negotiated settlement, the case may proceed to a jury or judge trial. If the trier of fact finds you liable for malpractice, the court will enter a judgment against you for the awarded damages amount plus interests and costs. Your malpractice insurer, if you have one, will then pay the judgment up to its policy limits, if the insurer does not appeal and overturn the judgment. The plaintiff patient may execute on any unpaid portions of the judgment in excess of insurance limits, subjecting your wages to garnishment and your non-exempt property to auction sale.
That said, the courts also dismiss a substantial percentage of malpractice lawsuits on legal or procedural grounds, and enter judgments of no cause for action on jury or judge determinations in a substantial percentage of other cases. Juries tend to respect medical professionals, including nurses, who may prevail in more than half of malpractice cases that go to trial. You may end up without any malpractice liability in the end.
Contractual Nature of Nursing Malpractice Insurance
If disputes arise between you and your nursing malpractice insurer, you should appreciate that your insurance policy is an insurance contract subject to contract interpretation laws and principles and insurance laws. Your malpractice insurer must generally comply with your state's insurance laws, but otherwise, what the insurance policy says pretty much determines your rights and the insurer's obligations.
Contract interpretation principles, though, generally provide that a judge must construe against the contract's sophisticated drafter, in this instance, the malpractice insurer, any ambiguous contract term. So, if you and the insurer reasonably disagree about what an ambiguous policy term requires the insurer to do or pay, the judge may interpret that term in your favor and against the insurer. The more sophisticated party generally bears the responsibility to clarify contract terms or suffer the burden of ambiguities.
Other contract laws that may affect your rights against your malpractice insurer include the statutory limitations period for bringing a lawsuit to enforce your contract rights, often three, five, or six years, depending on your state law. And that's how you generally enforce a malpractice insurance agreement, through a civil court lawsuit, although you may find that your state's insurance regulators will take an interest in a dispute that involves an insurer who is not complying with state insurance laws.
Nursing Malpractice Insurer Bad Faith
Insurer bad faith is one other helpful insurance principle that may affect your rights against your nursing malpractice insurer in a dispute over coverage of a malpractice judgment in excess of policy limits. Recall from the above discussion that insurers generally have the right to negotiate settlements of malpractice lawsuits on their insured's behalf. But if your nursing malpractice insurer negotiates in bad faith, refusing to settle your malpractice liability within policy limits when the plaintiff patient is willing to accept such a settlement, and you later suffer an excess judgment requiring you to pay beyond policy limits, you may be able to sue your own insurer to make it pay the excess judgment.
Benefits of Nursing Malpractice Insurance
The above discussion has not yet fully addressed the two main benefits of nursing malpractice insurance. Consider those two main benefits here.
Nursing Malpractice Insurer Indemnity
A nursing malpractice insurer's primary obligation is to indemnify you against malpractice liability that you incur. Indemnity means to stand in your place to fulfill your obligations. Thus, if your obligation is to pay for malpractice injuries that you cause, the malpractice insurer should generally do so for you up to its policy limits. If you have higher limits like $1,000,000 with another $5,000,000 in umbrella coverage, whether individually or through your employer, then you stand a good chance of never having to pay any malpractice settlement or judgment. While nursing malpractice can cause serious injuries, most claims would settle for less than the above amounts. Nursing malpractice can cause wrongful death, which may lead to larger settlements or judgments, although even those larger liabilities may fall within the above amounts. In short, nursing malpractice insurance can save your financial, present and future.
Nursing Malpractice Insurer Defense
The other main benefit of nursing malpractice insurance is its payment of your costs of defending a nursing malpractice claim. As indicated above, most nursing malpractice policies include not only indemnity but also defense. Surprisingly, the defense costs can be large in nursing malpractice cases, sometimes larger than the plaintiff patient's damages and settlement demand. Defense costs first include the cost of paying the defendant nurse's attorney, whom the insurer selects, retains, and pays. Defense attorney fees can easily run into the tens of thousands of dollars and in complex and extended cases, even into six figures. However, the insurer may also pay consulting nursing expert witness fees, travel costs, court fees, deposition and court transcripts, and other litigation costs. You may save more in defense costs than you save in settlement or judgment liability.
Wrongful Death Nursing Malpractice Liability
The prospect of facing wrongful death claims and damages bears separate mention. Some of the largest nursing malpractice awards involve claims brought by the estate of a patient for whom a nurse's malpractice caused the death. The nurse doesn't have to pay for any patient who dies. Patients die from the natural course of disease. But if the nurse's malpractice hastened the patient's demise, state wrongful death acts may allow the patient's spouse, dependent or adult children, parents, siblings, and other family members to recover for some or all of their loss from the patient's death. That loss could be economic in the form of lost financial support from wages, lost gifts, and the value of lost household services, and noneconomic in the form of lost love, society, and companionship. Those losses can be large, into the millions of dollars. And that's why nurses who care for patients with critical needs generally benefit from higher, and possibly much higher, policy limits including umbrella coverage.
Nursing Malpractice Claimant Strategies
You've considered a lot of information above. It may also help to be aware that the outcome of nursing malpractice claims often depends more on the strategies that the plaintiff patient's personal injury lawyer pursues than on the case facts, including the patient's damages and the nurse's alleged misconduct. One significant strategy that plaintiff lawyers pursue for good reason is to target responsible defendant healthcare providers who have malpractice insurance to pay for the damages and have higher insurance policy limits. It makes little sense to sue a healthcare provider without insurance rather than one with insurance if both providers are equally liable. Collecting from a malpractice insurer is a lot easier than collecting from a nurse, physician, or other healthcare provider because an insurer's business is to pay. So, don't be surprised if the focus of your malpractice case is more on the defendant with insurance than the defendant most responsible for the malpractice wrong. And don't be surprised if a patient sues several defendants along with you. The patient's lawyer may be searching for insurance and enough insurance to accumulate into an amount that will pay the patient's full damages.
Our Role in Nursing License Defense
The above information briefly mentions our role as nursing license defense attorneys. We do not generally represent nurses in malpractice cases. Nor should you expect to have to find a malpractice defense lawyer if you have insurance, because the insurer will instead handle that detail for you. You won't likely need our help defending a malpractice case. You'll have the help from your insurer's retained defense counsel.
Yet you may well face a state nursing board disciplinary charge relating to your alleged malpractice. State nursing practice acts routinely authorize discipline against nurses who demonstrate incompetence, of which a malpractice lawsuit can be a clear enough indication to trigger a state nursing board investigation and disciplinary charge. If you face a state nursing board disciplinary charge relating to malpractice allegations or for any other cause, promptly contact us to represent and defend you. Our substantial skill and experience in administrative license defense proceedings enable us to take the following actions with the greatest strategic sense and to the best effect:
- evaluate and answer the disciplinary charge;
- obtain a specification of the grounds for the charge as necessary;
- help you gather your defense evidence;
- retain, prepare, and present consulting nursing expert witnesses;
- arrange conciliation conferences to negotiate voluntary dismissal;
- invoke formal hearing to present your exonerating evidence;
- cross-examine adverse witnesses at your hearing;
- make your best case to mitigate any sanction and
- negotiate for remedial measures to preserve your license.
If you have already lost your state nursing board disciplinary case, we can take available appeals, seek civil court relief as your state's law allows, and negotiate with an ombuds office, general counsel office, or outside retained counsel for alternative special relief. If you have already lost your license and exhausted all reviews and appeals, we can help you evaluate your license reinstatement rights and make the necessary presentations.
Qualifications of License Defense Counsel
Do not retain an unqualified local criminal defense attorney or other unqualified lawyer for your state nursing board disciplinary defense. Your nursing malpractice lawyer, though knowledgeable about malpractice laws and court procedures, may not have administrative licensing defense skills and experience. Administrative law, rules, customs, and procedures all differ from civil and criminal court procedures. Let us help you with your state nursing board disciplinary defense for your best license outcome.
Premier Nursing License Defense Attorneys
Retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team and its highly qualified administrative license defense attorneys for your nursing license defense needs and issues. We have helped hundreds of nurses and other professionals nationwide on all kinds of licensing charges and related issues. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now.
