Page 41 - OB Risks - Delivering the Goods (Part Two)
P. 41

SVMIC Obstetrics Risks: Delivering the Goods


                   obstetrician in the unenviable position of sounding like Captain

                   Barbossa from the movie, Pirates of the Caribbean, referencing
                   the pirate code, “[t]he code is more what you’d call ‘guidelines’

                                          .
                   than actual rules”
                                           65

                   It is important for all obstetricians to be familiar with the
                   ACOG Guidelines. If your treatment plan deviates from the

                   ACOG Guidelines, your rationale should be included in your
                   documentation.







                   Collateral Issues



                   Collateral issues are those things that negatively impact the
                   defense of a case, which has nothing to do with the medical

                   judgment/treatment rendered or not rendered. They are
                   the intangibles. Most of those things (the venue, jury pool,

                   indefensible physician, etc.) are not factors that can be
                   adequately addressed in a two-hour course. However, the most

                   common and by far the most damaging collateral issue revealed
                   in our claims analysis is “jousting”         .



                   Jousting, otherwise known as “finger-pointing” or “blame-

                   shifting”, is common in cases involving more than one
                   defendant. Obstetricians and labor and delivery nurses often

                   finger-point at one another over the evaluation of fetal distress
                   as to information provided to the physician for him or her to

                   determine whether the physician’s presence is necessary to
                   examine the patient.








                   65     Walt Disney Productions, Pirates of the Caribbean

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