Can a Nurse Practitioner Go to Jail for Malpractice or Other Things Done in Clinical Practice?

A nurse practitioner (NP) asked whether a clinician can go to jail for wrongful death if there is a serious misdiagnosis. I have collected cases against NPs —meaning I search for them and keep files of them—for 20 years, and only once have I heard of an NP being criminally prosecuted for medical malpractice. That was an incident in 1996 where a NP miscalculated and erroneously ordered a dose for an infant, a registered nurse gave the wrong dose, and the infant died. A lawsuit was filed against both nurses for malpractice.
Source: The Journal for Nurse Practitioners - Category: Nursing Authors: Tags: Legal Limits Source Type: research