You recommend nurses carry personal malpractice insurance on your blog. Your rationale is that they will not be covered if they are sued and are no longer working for the organizaion where the alledged incident occurred. I know this is not true, at least at my institution. I am an RN pursuing an MSN, and I am very concerned about Texas Occupational Code 301.408, requiring insurers to report nurses to the BON within 30 days the filing of a petition to sue (which names nurses on the petition). To me, this steps on due process, as this starts a process at the BON that happens before any due process. Could you comment on this statute?

Sheila Kohl RN

Sheila.kohl@hotmail.com

Ms. Taralynn:

My name is Sheila Kohl.  I am currently a student at the University of Missouri - Kansas City in the RN to BSN program. 

I have an assignment that I hope you might be able to help me with.  The question is:

 Contact a nurse attorney and inquire as to what are some of the commmon legal issues the nurse attorney deals with in legal practice, the outcomes of those legal issues and what nurses can do to avoid malpractice lawsuits. 

I will be sharing your answers with the rest of my class and the answer can be relatively short.

Can you help me with this? If so, please email me at,