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Hi everyone.

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I'd like to spend a few minutes just, uh,

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discussing the topic of alternative dispute resolution

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and basically what is alternative dispute resolution

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or what we t typically refer to as A-D-R-A-D-R,

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uh, essentially amounts to different processes

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or procedures that can be used to try to resolve a case

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before it goes to trial.

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So it's all, uh, meant to sort of enhance efficiency, speed

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resolution and, and the brain damage

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that goes along with the trial process.

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For all sides and parties, there are two main types of a DR.

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They are pre-filing and post filing.

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So what do I mean by that?

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Well, the pre-filing is, it specifically means

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it's done prior to the time

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that the lawsuit is actually filed with the court.

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So it's what can be done to try to resolve this matter,

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which everyone now is identified as a potential lawsuit

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and can we resolve it without actually filing the lawsuit

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and moving forward through li uh, litigation and trial.

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I wanna start out just by reminding you of the AMAs code

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of Medical Ethics 8.6.

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And what this simply states is it mandates your has an

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obligation that if you have made a mistake in the care

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and treatment of your patient,

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that you are actually obligated to tell them

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and discuss that with them.

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Now, I don't think most of the time this is complied with,

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but it is out there and it can also be a springboard to try

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to resolve this process.

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So just be aware that that is out there.

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It's an obligation that you have.

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The next set of, um,

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avenues are something called the I am sorry laws

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or apology laws.

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And there are several versions of these across the country.

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And what this is designed to do is simply

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to allow the physician

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or the healthcare provider to come to the patient

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and say, I'm really sorry this error occurred

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or this mistake happened.

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And it is designed to open a dialogue, uh,

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between patient and physician, um,

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to see if there can be an understanding.

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Now, the pros

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and cons, people argue as well that then, you know,

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doesn't prevent the patient from filing a lawsuit.

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And that's true, but it also can, again, be a springboard

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to allow early resolution if it's warranted.

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A third category, um,

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are in general something I call the the in-house programs.

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And I think that the academic institutions are sort

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of way ahead of private institutions in this regard,

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or private practices, uh, for radiologists

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because what happens is that risk management becomes aware

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of an issue either by someone in-house, by a physician,

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somebody calling it to their attention,

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and then essentially risk management will go to the patient

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and say, Hey, we're aware of this problem,

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how can we make it right?

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And again, that's a, a big avenue to try to resolve a case

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before it actually gets filed with the court.

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And there are at least three states in our fourth option,

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um, that have something called, uh,

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pre-litigation screening panels

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or specifically for medical malpractice cases,

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medical mediation panels.

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And they are often, um, there's more than three states

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that have versions of this,

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but typically they have, uh, they're made up

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of three individuals, sometimes more,

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and it's a physician, a lawyer, and a lay person.

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And they're just, uh, meant to review the facts as

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as are known and then make a recommendation as to

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what should happen to that.

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And that re re you know, typically will, um,

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result in the lawsuit going away.

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Meaning there really isn't anything here that, uh,

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should be addressed.

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So it's gonna go away.

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Or alternatively, okay, there's a meritorious claim here,

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can we resolve it short of going

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through the litigation process?

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The second category are the post filing measures

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that can be done to resolve it short of trial.

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And the first one I mentioned is arbitration.

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And people usually hear of this

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as being binding arbitration.

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And this is something where both sides agree typically

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to a three judge panel may or may

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or may not be judges, they can be lawyers or others,

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but each side picks one

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and then the two that are picked then pick the third

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and that forms the panel.

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These are often, like I said,

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they result in a binding decision

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so it doesn't go any farther than the arbitration process.

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And the arbitra, the arbitration itself is like a mini

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trial, um, not as intense as an actual court room trial.

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And there's no jury, it's just the three, um,

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judge panel if you will, that are hearing it

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and deciding in my 30 plus years of practice,

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I've never done one of these.

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They're rare, rarely used here in Colorado.

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Other states may utilize them more.

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I'm not aware that there're big in medical malpractice

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cases, but the second one is, and that's mediation.

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It's extremely common.

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Um, I would say I settle most of my cases in mediation

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and at least in Colorado, and I think more

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and more states across the country, they are, uh,

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mediation is actually ordered by the court at some point

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during the discovery process and before trial begins.

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And as the lawyer in the case,

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and I think both plaintiff and

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Defense lawyers feel the same way.

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That is, we wanna have a good percentage

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of our discovery done, we wanna know

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what everybody's gonna say and then we can sit down

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and try to hash it out.

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And this is where typically a retired judge, uh, goes back

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and forth between a sort of shuttle diplomacy

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between two different rooms, presenting the pros

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and cons of each case, the value of the case

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to see if we can't reach a resolution short of trial.