Doctors and Litigation: The L Word

Physician assistants (PAs), nurse practitioners (NPs), certified registered nurse anesthetists (CRNAs), certified nurse midwives (CNMs), and other non-physician clinicians increasingly face malpractice litigation -- sometimes along with a physician...and sometimes not. 

For the purposes of education, we'll put them all under the umbrella of Advanced Practice Provider, or APP, although their roles vary greatly, and we acknowledge this.

And, although it barely seems possible, APPs usually have had even less education about litigation than physicians. 

This episode starts with the story of a PA who won at trial, describing the experience in her own words.

We then discuss some critical issues for APPs in litigation, and the doctors who work with them, with defense attorney Anthony Abeln, of Hamel Marcin Dunn Reardon and Shea PC. Mr. Abeln is a member of the bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.  His practice areas include professional liability defense, hospital and medical law, product liability, and others. He holds degrees in law, educational policy, and history and policy, and is a member of the bar of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts.  He also teaches legal writing and appellate advocacy at New England Law/Boston.

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Take the LEAP! Be litigation-ready.

Learn from Dr. Pensa's Litigation Education and Performance for Clinicians course. Up to 16 hours of AMA Category 1 CME/CNE credits available in this self-paced, attorney-approved video course that will teach you about the skills and mindset required to face medical litigation with integrity and know how. Learn many of the performance coaching techniques Dr. Pensa uses with her own 1:1 coaching clients. 

START HERE: https://www.doctorsandlitigation.com/LEAP/signup

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Attorneys, Risk, Claims, and Medical Leadership: Learn about "Defense LEAP" and partnering with Dr. Pensa to ensure your medical defendants are supported and prepared from the very beginning. I help with the fear, the confusion, and the basic education -- so your time with them is spent on elevated strategy instead of groundwork.

Contact Dr. Pensa through her website to learn more: https://www.doctorsandlitigation.com/contact

 

Imagine you are a highly capable physician who saved a patient's life. You're sued over it anyway. 

Actually, your hospital system is sued for it, but they need you to defend it.

You spend days preparing for deposition, then eventually many weeks preparing for trial -- not to mention the five years of stress you endured leading up to it. You miss work for days of meetings with attorneys, and then for several weeks at trial, where you are maligned, misrepresented, and personally attacked.

Nevertheless, you testify like a consummate professional, bring the whole thing across the finish line, secure a victory for your hospital in court..and start learning to live with the scars.

And then? You return to work. You have to work a lot extra, because now you have to make up all the shifts you missed during prep and trial.

But nobody at work seems to know anything even happened. No one from Risk or leadership acknowledges your actions, or says 'thank you for saving the hospital $30 million'. No one mentions anything about what was the most difficult experience in your professional life. And when you meet with your boss for your scheduled annual review after your return, he asks you how your "vacation" was.

This was the experience of one of my clients, and it is a shockingly common one. In fact, it's the norm. And, unsurprisingly, it creates a lot of resentment. 

This is not good leadership. 

This episode is about how to be a better leader for your physicians, nurses, and other clinicians in litigation. It's a conversation about why it matters, and why it's both the right thing to do and advantageous to your organization's bottom line.

Have a listen to learn about host Dr. Gita Pensa's 10-point framework, one she workshops with hospitals and medical organizations across the country. 

Mentioned resource:

Becker's Hospital Review: Uncontrollable Stress in Healthcare Workers May Be a Legal Hazard Researchers Argue

Duty to Reduce Uncontrollable Stress in Healthcare Workers. Help Is on the Way

Health; Privatera et al., 2026.

 

_____________________________________

Take the LEAP! Be litigation-ready.

Doctors and Patient-Facing Clinicians: Learn from Dr. Pensa's Litigation Education and Performance for Clinicians course. Up to 16 hours of AMA Category 1 CME/CNE credits available in this self-paced, attorney-approved video course that will teach you about the skills and mindset required to face medical litigation with integrity and know how. Learn many of the performance coaching techniques Dr. Pensa uses with her own 1:1 coaching clients. 

START HERE: https://www.doctorsandlitigation.com/LEAP/signup

_______________________

Attorneys, Risk, Claims, and Medical Leadership: Learn about "Defense LEAP" and partnering with Dr. Pensa to ensure your medical defendants are supported and prepared from the very beginning. I help with the fear, the confusion, and the basic education -- so your time with them is spent on elevated strategy instead of groundwork.

Contact Dr. Pensa through her website to learn more: https://www.doctorsandlitigation.com/contact