0:01

Well, I hope you've enjoyed part two

0:03

of the medical-legal primer for radiologists.

0:06

Let's do a little bit of a wrap up.

0:09

Well, you learned about what to do if you've been sued,

0:14

which is to help your lawyers be empathetic

0:16

and honest with yourself in looking at the case objectively

0:19

to determine whether or not it has merit.

0:22

Do not under any circumstances alter the record

0:26

or for that matter, consult other physicians about the case

0:29

because it may be what we call discoverable

0:31

and that is could be brought to light at the courtroom.

0:36

Remember that your personal wealth is not at risk.

0:39

That's why you have malpractice insurance.

0:41

And it's a very, very rare occurrence that

0:46

the suit would lead to you having any of your own financial

0:50

resources being utilized.

0:54

We also learned about alternative forms

0:56

of resolution of the case.

0:58

You can communicate and resolve the case with the patient

1:01

before any complaint has been raised and that can occur

1:06

and is a beneficial event

1:09

and termination of the complaint.

1:12

Um, there are those, I'm sorry, laws which allow you to

1:15

communicate directly with the patient,

1:17

but there's also pre-litigation offers

1:20

and those are usually done through mediation.

1:24

Uh, two parties getting together and talking things out.

1:27

Arbitration the two parties, making their case

1:29

to a judge like entity who determines the result.

1:34

And what we call candor laws

1:36

and candor situation in which there is discussion about

1:41

resolving the case before it gets listed in the courtroom,

1:46

such that it remains

1:47

outside the national practitioner's database.

1:50

In the end, if things do not get resolved

1:52

by these various pre-litigation means, then you go to trial.

1:59

Remember what Steven Brown said,

2:01

communication about adverse events and errors is appropriate

2:05

and you know, you should expect

2:07

to have patients be curious about it

2:09

and want to know what happened.

2:11

And some cases there's sympathetic to the fact

2:14

that an error has been made

2:15

and that allows you to have accountability as well

2:17

as transparency and allows you to improve the quality

2:21

of your practice.

2:23

One of the issues that Kelly addressed was whether

2:26

or not you need a defense lawyer of your own,

2:29

not just the one that is selected

2:32

by the malpractice insurance carrier.

2:35

Um, if there is a litigation that is

2:39

huge in regards to the damages

2:41

and there is a possibility of your personal finance at risk,

2:44

then for sure you want to have a lawyer

2:47

who is only looking out for you

2:50

and you wanna find someone whose personality fits yours

2:53

and has the appropriate credentials.

2:56

We talked about how to behave at trial As a

2:58

Defendant, you wanna be contrite, humble, honest you.

3:01

This is not a time where you wanna be arrogant

3:03

or dismissive of the case.

3:06

You wanna try to help your lawyer at the trial, send notes,

3:10

evaluate the expert witness testimony

3:13

when you're up on stand, you do wanna have eye contact

3:17

with the jury

3:18

and try to be empathetic to both the plaintiff as well

3:22

as your case, and show that you're a human

3:25

and humane to the jury.

3:27

You want to educate the jury about the practice of radiology

3:30

because they may be not well versed in that.

3:33

And above all, you wanna maintain your composure

3:35

and not lose it in front of anybody.

3:39

So with that, we conclude part two

3:43

of our MAL medical malpractice primer.

3:46

Thank you very much for your attention.