Page 35 - Anatomy of a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

SVMIC Anatomy of a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit

or she believes you made an error, you could be potentially

providing the plaintiff with expert testimony against you.

You may be wondering about privileged communications with
persons such as spouses, clergy, therapists, etc. While it is true,

that all state law generally provides that conversations with
certain specified people/professions are privileged and thereby

protected from discovery, the safest course is not to discuss

the facts of the case or medicine involved with anyone
except your malpractice carrier and your defense attorney. We

have seen instances where a physician’s spouse went on

social media to vent her feelings about the case, thereby
negating the spousal privilege.

Note that we are saying don’t discuss the facts or medicine;

we are not saying you must refrain from discussing anything
with your spouse, partners, or others (although ideally that

might be best). It is okay to tell them you are being sued and to
discuss how it makes you feel. In other words, you don’t have

to feel isolated. It’s okay to reach out for help to cope with the
stress of a claim or lawsuit – just be guarded with what you

discuss.

The medical records of the patient should be secured/locked,

and all correspondence between the physician and his/her
defense attorney, as well as the claims staff, should be kept in

a separate file from the medical record. The medical records
need to be secured to ensure that no one inadvertently makes

an entry or correction in the record that could prove

problematic for the defense. The record should be frozen in
time at the point the notice/process is received.

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