The more prepared a practitioner is, the better the chances of a successful outcome. While no one physician can manage all the potential risks that lead to malpractice lawsuits, we asked experts to share their best practices and tips. we have described below read it till last
Avoid communication problems.
“Bad communication is a common reason for lawsuits,” Benvenuto said. “Or if you’re very serious when a patient has done their research. You have to answer questions. You can’t be in a hurry.” Closed-loop communication, Colbert believes, is a practice similar to that used in fast-food establishments. The communication problem can be solved by using
“When you order Chinese food, you place your order and the person says, ‘Okay, you ordered General Tso’s Chicken and Fried Rice’ to make sure they heard what you said.” , so there’s no conflict. How often does a therapist ask, ‘Can you tell me what the next steps are so I can be sure you heard me?'” when talking to a patient.
Get good malpractice insurance.
At Dickinson Wright in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Christopher J. As Ryan said, the least expensive insurance isn’t always the best. Practitioners should look for insurance that comes with risk management tools that can add value to a practice. Practitioners should also make sure they have a policy with an admitted carrier in their state, according to Tom Benvenuto, a senior trial attorney with Benvenuto & Slattery in Roslyn, New York.
Pay attention to the specifics of informed consent.
Most physicians understand informed consent very well, Colbert said. However, a problem can occur when a physician speculates about common complications or adverse effects of treatment and fails to alert the patient. “Informed consent is a recognition of the limits of medicine,” Colbert said. “It is a recommendation that we cannot give any guarantees; So, it’s about shared decision making.”
Ensure a good patient-doctor alliance.
Benvenuto explained that the “bedside manner” really does make a difference to the patient experience. Ryan added, “I’ve seen situations where people chose not to pursue litigation because they liked the therapist, while people would pursue litigation because they didn’t like the therapist.” This is especially true when complications occur.
“Physicians who have been super responsive tend to be sued less frequently than physicians who are not,” advises Peter Colbert, senior vice president of claims and litigation management for Healthcare Risk Advisors, a strategic business at The Doctors Company in New York, N.Y. , who are not as responsive.” York. “What drives people away from the doctor’s office and from the attorney’s office is the lack of feeling connected to the doctor,” he said.
Get a lawyer immediately.
The first thing to do is call your insurance carrier and insist on speaking with an attorney immediately while everything is still fresh, Benvenuto advised. The worst thing a therapist can do is try to ignore it or brush it off. Likewise, the sooner a doctor meets with a lawyer, the better. “If you find a lawyer who won’t take your calls, get another lawyer,” Benvenuto said.
Document everything.
Becoming a better listener can prevent another common problem in malpractice lawsuits – poor documentation in electronic health records. “As a lawyer, very few times have I seen perfect documentation, a record that has everything I expect to see,” Ryan said. “It’s such a big issue, we did a whole presentation on medical record documentation.” In addition to traditional notes, Colbert said physicians should always chart patient noncompliance issues.
Prepare for depositions or pretrial depositions.
Colbert said the next most important step after a lawsuit is filed is to thoroughly prepare for depositions or pre-trial depositions.
There is good news though. Although malpractice suits may hang like a dark specter in the back of a physician’s mind, Colbert said that on average the number of claims is less than the number of adverse outcomes, which are a fraction of 1% of a patient. “Most of the time the therapists are doing a good job, but there is always room for improvement,” he said.
Be careful after filing a lawsuit.
Practitioners will need to think clearly, Colbert said. “When physicians are prosecuted, it’s a whole new universe and they don’t fully understand it,” he said. Ryan said that often the cases that are filed are not necessarily what physicians were expecting, so they can take the physician by surprise.
Benvenuto said it’s common for a physician to go back and change a note in a patient’s record, but it’s a very bad idea. “Resist the urge to add anything to the note. I don’t even mean to falsify it, but simply to add information that you didn’t put down in the first place. They always bite you. Source- psychiatrictimes
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