Medical Liability Minute

Medical Justice and the Doctor Podcast Network•medicaljustice.com

Health & Fitness

Medicine

Business

Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD, Michael Sacopulos, JD, and many guests summarize modern medico-legal threats to physicians.

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Episodes

EP 6: Consent Vs. Informed Consent - How Should Doctors Expose Patients to Risk?

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 out...

Apr 05, 2019•18 min•Season 1Ep. 6

EP 5: Belly Dancer Sues Belly Dancer - What to Do When a Patient's Family Perpetuates a Frivolous Lawsuit

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...

Mar 29, 2019•19 min•Season 1Ep. 5

EP 4: Patients Bamboozled by Big Bills: How Much Care is Too Much Care?

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...

Mar 22, 2019•20 min•Season 1Ep. 4

EP 3: Avoiding Bad Outcomes When Selecting Interpreters for Deaf Patients

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 a...

Mar 15, 2019•23 min•Season 1Ep. 3

EP 2: Fueled by Fear: Why Scared Patients Will Always Find an Attorney

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 dissec...

Mar 07, 2019•19 min•Season 1Ep. 2

EP 1: From Vietnamese Re-Education Camp to Med Mal Courtroom

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 ...

Feb 15, 2019•19 min•Season 1Ep. 1

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