1. Advice 
2. Assistance with legal proceedings including:
   • Civil Litigation
   • Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions
   • Statutory Offences
   • Witness Appearances
3. Risk Management and Education 

1.  Advice

• information about professional obligations and professional liability issues
• prompt, confidential access to nurse legal advisors who are lawyers with extensive nursing experience
• explanation of legal steps to be taken and actions to avoid when an incident has occurred
• referral to legal counsel when required
• pre-contractual review of professional service agreements
  

2.  Assistance with legal proceedings* including: 

• defence of claims and legal actions arising from nursing practice
• payment of any settlement or any court-imposed damages, costs, legal expenses and fees**

• investigation of criminal allegations arising from nursing practice
• defence of  criminal charges arising from nursing practice***
• legal assistance in responding to an application for production of client records in a criminal sexual assault case

• legal defence for alleged breach of a provincial/territorial/federal statute (including investigations of alleged human rights and privacy violations)****
• excludes statutes regulating nursing practice, professional discipline or labour relations

Witness Appearances

• legal assistance for nurses compelled to appear as witnesses at legal proceedings
• legal assistance for nurses involved in Coroners' or Medical Examiners' investigations

CNPS protection is occurrence-based, which means registered nurses can seek assistance from CNPS for any incident arising from nursing practice that occurred while they were members of a CNPS member organization, irrespective of when a claim arising from this incident is made or a civil action is commenced.

Requests for legal representation will be considered on a case by case basis by a committee of nurses to determine the eligibility and appropriate level of assistance.

• CNPS publishes educational material on a wide range of subjects to help nurses understand their professional legal obligations, manage the risks in their nursing practice and reduce the risk of harm to their patients
• CNPS provides interactive risk management presentations to nursing groups on specific legal issues related to their nursing practice
• test your knowledge of legal risk management

 
*May be subject to financial limits.

**Generally excluding punitive damages.

*** Generally in the form of reimbursement of reasonable defence expenses in the case of a fully successful defence; "fully successful" means acquittal, the return of a not guilty verdict or the withdrawal of charges.

****Excluding payment of fines.