Medical Malpractice

101

Your nursing license represents your career as a nurse. It represents the sum of all your studies, time, and energy. It represents the financial investment to become a nurse and all your future income as a nursing professional. Communication isn’t perfect, instructions can be misinterpreted, and bad outcomes do occur. The perception of wrongdoing is all it takes to litigate.

Below you will find statistical data from NSO’s claim files that show the importance of carrying malpractice coverage.

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Distribution of Closed Claims by Allegation

56.2% Treatment/care

18.2% Patients’ rights / abuse / professional conduct

9.7% Assessment

8.2% Medication administration

4.3% Monitoring

Most Common Injuries Resulting in Lawsuit

Death

50.2%

Fracture / Dislocation

7.9%

Infection / abscess / sepsis

6.2%

Burn

4.5%

Head / brain injury

4.3%

Resource: Nurse Professional Liability Exposure Claim Report: 5th Edition, NSO, CNA, August 2025.

Closed Claims by Insured Type

Distribution

Average
Total Incurred

69.3%

$215,544

Healthcare business

21.9%

$283,339

LPN/LVN

8.6%

$293,507

Student

<1%

$63,780

Overall

$236,749

Comparison of 2015, 2020, 2025 Average Claim Costs

2015

$201,670

2020

$210,513

2025

$236,749

Average Payouts by Injury¹

Fetal / infant brain injury

000,000

Head / brain injury

000,000

Amputation

000,000

Death

000,000

Emotional / psychological harm / distress

000,000

What is MEDICAL MALPRACTICE?

Malpractice is the failure to provide the degree of care required of a professional under the scope of their license resulting in injury, death or damage.

HOW COURTS DEFINE MALPRACTICE

VS.

HOW PATIENTS DEFINE MALPRACTICE

COURTS

PATIENTS

COURTS

Four elements must exist for an incident to be considered malpractice:

Duty: a nurse-patient relationship must exist
Breach: standard of care was not met
Cause: injury was caused by the nurse’s error
Harm: injury resulted in damages

PATIENTS

To patients, it is the perception of wrongdoing:

Even excellent nurses can fail to connect with all of their patients
If a patient perceives he or she has been injured as a result of the care you provided, or failed to provide, that patient could sue

Medical malpractice lawsuits serve two goals

one

COMPENSATE VICTIMS OF NEGLIGENT MEDICAL CARE

two

ENCOURAGE SAFE AND RESPONSIBLE MEDICAL PRACTICE

Types of recoverable damages:

Medical expenses

•

Loss of income

•

Funeral expenses

•

Mental anguish

•

Pain and suffering

•

Loss of consortium

Common Treatment and Care Allegations:*

+ Improper management of medical patient or complication

+ Improper technique or negligent performance of treatment

+ Improper management of surgical/post anesthesia care

+ Failure to implement protocols

+ Improper management of obstetrical patient

Professional Liability

INSURANCE

(AKA MALPRACTICE INSURANCE)

Professional liability insurance is purchased by nurses to safeguard against medical malpractice allegations by:

Providing protection for their assets and reputation

Covering costs associated with hiring legal representation

Paying settlements and judgements for damages

Easy, Affordable Malpractice Protection

3-YEAR NEW GRADUATE DISCOUNT

Once you pass your state boards you’ll want to secure your own individual professional liability insurance. The NSO policy provides:

Up to $1 million of Malpractice Insurance per claim²

Up to $25,000 of Licensure Defense protection

HIPAA Privacy coverage, Abuse coverage, and much more

To make it easy for you to get started, NSO offers a three-year premium discount:³

up to

first year discount

up to

second year discount

up to

third year discount

After the first year, you can further reduce the cost by taking a qualified risk management course like the ones offered through NSO, CNA and Lippincott. For more information visit our website at nso.com.

Student
Nurse

1st Year
Graduate

Student
Nurse

2nd Year
Graduate

000

Student
Nurse

113

3rd Year
Graduate

000

Student
Nurse

138

Mature Policy
Rate

¹ Resource: Nurse Professional Liability Exposure Claim Report: 5th Edition, NSO, CNA, September 2025

² Aggregate Limits for Nurse and Nurse Practitioners: $6 million. Aggregate Limits for Counselors: $5 million. Aggregate Limits for other professions: $3 million. Some states may vary.

³ Must apply within 12 months of graduation to receive 3-year New Graduate Discount. Discount does not apply to new or existing policyholders who have graduated over 12 months ago. Discount does not apply in the states of CA, NY or SC.

Meeting the insurance needs of nursing professionals for more than 50 years.

This information is intended to inform Affinity Insurance Services, Inc., customers of potential liability in their practice. It reflects general principles only. It is not intended to offer legal advice or to establish appropriate or acceptable standards of professional conduct. Readers should consult with a lawyer if they have specific concerns. Neither Affinity Insurance Services, Inc., NSO, nor CNA assumes any liability for how this information is applied in practice or for the accuracy of this information. This information is published by Affinity Insurance Services, Inc., with headquarters at 1100 Virginia Drive, Ste. 250, Ft. Washington, PA 19034. Phone: (800) 247-1500. All world rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.

Nurses Service Organization is a registered trade name of Affinity Insurance Services, Inc., a licensed producer in all states (TX 13695); (AR 100106022); in CA & MN, AIS Affinity Insurance Agency, Inc. (CA 0795465); in OK, AIS Affinity Insurance Services, Inc.; in CA, Aon Affinity Insurance Services, Inc., (CA 0G94493), Aon Direct Insurance Administrators and Berkely Insurance Agency and in NY , AIS Affinity Insurance Agency.

Medical Malpractice

Distribution of Closed Claims by Allegation

Most Common Injuries Resulting in Lawsuit

Average Payouts by Injury1

What is MEDICAL MALPRACTICE?

HOW COURTS DEFINE MALPRACTICE

VS.

HOW PATIENTS DEFINE MALPRACTICE

COURTS

COURTS

PATIENTS

PATIENTS

COURTS

PATIENTS

Medical malpractice lawsuits serve two goals

Common Treatment and Care Allegations:*

Professional Liability

(AKA MALPRACTICE INSURANCE)

Easy, Affordable Malpractice Protection

Average Payouts by Injury¹