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Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD, Michael Sacopulos, JD, and many guests summarize modern medico-legal threats to physicians.
Episodes
Friday Apr 05, 2019
Friday Apr 05, 2019
If surgeons told their patients everything that could go wrong during a procedure, only the most courageous would consent to an operation. That said, doctors must set appropriate expectations. These conversations are memorialized in consent forms. Patients must have an adequate understanding of the risks.
But even after a doctor obtains a patient's consent to perform a procedure, some patients allege they did not comprehend the nature of the operation. These outbursts typically accompany bad outcomes. What is the difference between consent and informed consent? And what is the optimal way for doctors to communicate the level of risk to their patients?
Friday Mar 29, 2019
Friday Mar 29, 2019
Patients aren't always the party responsible for perpetuating a frivolous claim. Sometimes the patient is perfectly happy with the care you've rendered - it's his family that wants to pick the fight. Such circumstances require the patient to declare loyalty to one side or the other. Spoiler alert - his doctor rarely come out on top. But there are steps doctors can take to diffuse these delicate situations before sparks start to fly...
Friday Mar 22, 2019
Friday Mar 22, 2019
Malpractice accusations fly when patients feel they're denied the standard of care. In an attempt to douse firecrackers, some doctors prescribe superfluous tests. The purpose of these tests is to alleviate anxiety. But whatever good-will they facilitate is dashed when the patient receives his bill. On top of that, these tests generate unnecessary costs while providing little or no insight into the patient's health.
Doctors know even menial tests present a small amount of risk to the patient. And if the amount of menial tests performed is not menial, then neither is the level of risk. On this week's episode of the Medical Liability Minute, Jeff and Mike dig into all that can (and will) go wrong when patients are subjected to unnecessary testing...
Friday Mar 15, 2019
Friday Mar 15, 2019
Deaf patients require interpreters fluent in sign language. Federal law mandates you provide one. The defendant in today's episode provided his deaf patient with someone beyond adept in sign language - a member of his staff who happened to be the mother of a deaf child. And yet - when treatment ended, a lawsuit was served. It alleged the patient was not provided with a qualified interpreter and experienced a sub-optimal outcome as a result.
Could anything have been done to avoid this end? Jeff and Mike discuss...
Thursday Mar 07, 2019
Thursday Mar 07, 2019
Meritless malpractice cases are propelled by a cocktail of emotions. The exact recipe varies. Most frivolous cases are products of greed, spite, and misinformation. Physicians must not underestimate the role fear plays in such cases. Scared patients and predatory attorneys are drawn together like magnets. The 2012 New England Compounding Center meningitis outbreak created a lot of scared patients. And numerous malpractice claims. Not every claim was warranted, though. Today, Jeff and Mike dissect two such malpractice claims that were inspired by fear, not medical neglect. How can physicians protect themselves from "trigger-happy" patients during such outbreaks? And what can physicians do to assuage a patient's fears?
Friday Feb 15, 2019
Friday Feb 15, 2019
In our debut episode, Jeff and Mike discuss an important topic: How to navigate the fallout that inevitably follows the death of a patient. A patient's death can conjure "long lost relatives", along with their attorneys. Experience has taught us if they smell blood in the water, they'll bite. What can physicians do to protect themselves from family members who want to pursue frivolous litigation?
Opening and closing music written and produced by Grammy award winning artists: Lili Haydn and Itai Disraeli (performed by The Service Cats).