Medical Malpractice: Three Myths That Cost Your Hospital Millions

What's the use?Nothing you do will hold down thepatients. All of which fuels the patients' feeling of
cost of medical malpractice. It feels that wayhaving been wronged.So what can you do?Equip
sometimes, doesn't it?Unfortunately, for manyyour staff, particularly your physicians and risk
risk managers, that's not too far off the mark.managers, to treat patients with empathy and
What they're doing isn't working.We can point torespect. Even if they threaten to sue. Especially if
other industries, greedy lawyers, insurancethey threaten to sue.The Harvard School of Public
companies trying to make up for losses in theHealth will tell you that if your aim is to prevent
stock market. But there's trouble within medicalliability loss, you may have more success
practices too.A study published in the Archives ofcommunicating well and showing patients you
Internal Medicine showed that many of thevalue them than you will by reducing actual cases
actions risk managers take actually backfire(1).of malpracticeOf course, that's easier said than
They create more risk and drive up costs.Thedone. There are two reasons.First, it's stressful
problem is not the risk managers. It's mythsbeing face-to-face with someone who's upset.
about medical malpractice that dominate theMost people intend to be open. But they're afraid
healthcare industry. Three myths in particular areit would make matters worse.Second, though
common and costly.Myth #1: Medical negligencemost medical staff are compassionate, they don't
causes medical malpractice claims.What could beknow how to express that empathy in a way an
more logical?It's a conclusion based on commonupset patient can see. Instead, they try to fix the
sense and backed by data from two large studiesproblem or show the patient the right way of
carried out by Harvard researchers over the pastthinking. Which does make matters worse.My
20 years.One percent of hospital visits end inadvice? Your best course of action is to get out
medical negligence. And the injured one percentahead of the problem. Train your staff to identify
are 20 times more likely to claim medicalpatient feelings and needs, and negotiate solutions.
malpractice than are the other 99 percent.SoSo patients feel no need to make claims in the
patients injured through error must drivefirst place.If that seems like a lot to bite off. Here
malpractice claims, right? Wrong.A recent reportare some suggestions to get you started.Train
from researchers at the Harvard School of Publicselected staff. Risk management, security
Health(2) revealed that four of five patients whoservices, and social work, work often with upset
file medical malpractice claims have not beenpatients. Focus on staff in these areas to
injured through negligence. And the great majorityleverage a limited training budget or to model the
of patients who have suffered negligent injuryskills for other employees.Train selected
don't sue.Myth #2: Medical malpractice claims aredepartments. Some departments, obstetrics and
random actsIf medical error doesn't driveneurology for example, attract medical
malpractice claims, what does? Maybe claims aremalpractice suits.In the case of medical
entirely unpredictable.They're not though. Injuredmalpractice, the best defense is not a good
patients are 20 times more likely to sue than areoffense. It's good collaboration. Your goal is to
patients who aren't injured. And there areuncover your patients' needs and negotiate
correlations that are far stronger that we'll discusssolutions that meet their needs as well as the
in a minute.Myth #3: Medical malpractice claims areneeds of your hospital. And do it in a way your
filed by opportunistic patientsUndoubtedly somepatients can see.
are. I've heard from risk managers, especially in
economically depressed areas, who feel the pinch______________________
from patients who literally fall in the parking lot.1. Reducing legal risk by practicing
Personal anecdotes like these though can bepatient-centered medicine, Heidi P Forster, Jack
misleading.According to Beckman and colleagues inSchwartz, Evan DeRenzo. Archives of Internal
the Archives of Internal Medicine(3), the reality isMedicine. Chicago: Jun 10, 2002. Vol. 162, Iss. 11;
that most patients sue because of emotionalpg. 1217, 3 pgs2. Medical malpractice as an
errors. They feel deserted, feel their views wereepidemiological problem, Social Science & Medicine,
devaluated, feel that information was deliveredVolume 59, Issue 1, July 2004, Pages 39-46,
poorly, and feel their physician failed to understandMichelle M. Mello and David Hemenway3. Beckman
their perspective.And this is why the strategiesHB, Markakis KM, Suchman AL, Frankel RM. The
pursued by many risk managers backfire. They'vedoctor-patient relationship and malpractice: lessons
been led to believe that opportunistic patientsfrom plaintiff depositions. Arch Intern Med.
take advantage of errors and negligence as an1994;154:1365-1370Tim Dawes, founder of
opening to sue. So they follow what seems to beInterplay, Inc., specializes in helping health care
the logical course of action.They keep theorganizations exceed their strategic goals by
physician from the patient and withholddemonstrating unexpected empathy to patients.
information. Sometimes they even mislead