Medical Malpractice: Three Myths That Cost Your Hospital Millions

What's the use?

Nothing you do will hold down the cost of medical malpractice. It feels that way sometimes, doesn't it?

Unfortunately, for many risk managers, that's not too far off the mark. What they're doing isn't working.

We can point to other industries, greedy lawyers, insurance companies trying to make up for losses in the stock market. But there's trouble within medical practices too.

A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine showed that many of the actions risk managers take actually backfire(1). They create more risk and drive up costs.

The problem is not the risk managers. It's myths about medical malpractice that dominate the healthcare industry. Three myths in particular are common and costly.

Myth #1: Medical negligence causes medical malpractice claims.

What could be more logical?

It's a conclusion based on common sense and backed by data from two large studies carried out by Harvard researchers over the past 20 years.

One percent of hospital visits end in medical negligence. And the injured one percent are 20 times more likely to claim medical malpractice than are the other 99 percent.

So patients injured through error must drive malpractice claims, right? Wrong.

A recent report from researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health(2) revealed that four of five patients who file medical malpractice claims have not been injured through negligence. And the great majority of patients who have suffered negligent injury don't sue.

Myth #2: Medical malpractice claims are random acts

If medical error doesn't drive malpractice claims, what does? Maybe claims are entirely unpredictable.

They're not though. Injured patients are 20 times more likely to sue than are patients who aren't injured. And there are correlations that are far stronger that we'll discuss in a minute.

Myth #3: Medical malpractice claims are filed by opportunistic patients

Undoubtedly some 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. Personal anecdotes like these though can be misleading.

According to Beckman and colleagues in the Archives of Internal Medicine(3), the reality is that most patients sue because of emotional errors. They feel deserted, feel their views were devaluated, feel that information was delivered poorly, and feel their physician failed to understand their perspective.

And this is why the strategies pursued by many risk managers backfire. They've been led to believe that opportunistic patients take advantage of errors and negligence as an opening to sue. So they follow what seems to be the logical course of action.

They keep the physician from the patient and withhold information. Sometimes they even mislead patients. All of which fuels the patients' feeling of having been wronged.

So what can you do?

Equip your staff, particularly your physicians and risk managers, to treat patients with empathy and respect. Even if they threaten to sue. Especially if they threaten to sue.

The Harvard School of Public Health will tell you that if your aim is to prevent liability loss, you may have more success communicating well and showing patients you value them than you will by reducing actual cases of malpractice

Of course, that's easier said than done. There are two reasons.

First, it's stressful being face-to-face with someone who's upset. Most people intend to be open. But they're afraid it would make matters worse.

Second, though most medical staff are compassionate, they don't know how to express that empathy in a way an upset patient can see. Instead, they try to fix the problem or show the patient the right way of thinking. Which does make matters worse.

My advice? Your best course of action is to get out ahead of the problem. Train your staff to identify patient feelings and needs, and negotiate solutions. So patients feel no need to make claims in the first place.

If that seems like a lot to bite off. Here are some suggestions to get you started.

Train selected staff. Risk management, security services, and social work, work often with upset patients. Focus on staff in these areas to leverage a limited training budget or to model the skills for other employees.

Train selected departments. Some departments, obstetrics and neurology for example, attract medical malpractice suits.

In the case of medical malpractice, the best defense is not a good offense. It's good collaboration. Your goal is to uncover your patients' needs and negotiate solutions that meet their needs as well as the needs of your hospital. And do it in a way your patients can see. _______________________________________________________
1. Reducing legal risk by practicing patient-centered medicine, Heidi P Forster, Jack Schwartz, Evan DeRenzo. Archives of Internal Medicine. Chicago: Jun 10, 2002. Vol. 162, Iss. 11; pg. 1217, 3 pgs

2. Medical malpractice as an epidemiological problem, Social Science & Medicine, Volume 59, Issue 1, July 2004, Pages 39-46, Michelle M. Mello and David Hemenway

3. Beckman HB, Markakis KM, Suchman AL, Frankel RM. The doctor-patient relationship and malpractice: lessons from plaintiff depositions. Arch Intern Med. 1994;154:1365-1370

Tim Dawes, founder of Interplay, Inc., specializes in helping health care organizations exceed their strategic goals by demonstrating unexpected empathy to patients. Sign up for free monthly "how to" articles at http://www.interplaygroup.com

---

5 Awesome Actions of Highly Creative Leaders!

How many times have you wondered why you are unable... Read More

Choosing the Right Corporate Training

According to a Gallup Poll, 80 percent of employees said... Read More

Real Costs in Distribution and What it Means To Your Company

Ever feel that all the lawyers in thh Country need... Read More

Using the Six-Sigma Methodology to Improve Wafer Fab Productivity

As a result of consolidation of operations and significantly increased... Read More

To Meet or Not to Meet - What are the Questions?

Meetings can be a total waste of time or a... Read More

Internal Prisons: The Thief of Productivity and Quality in our Workforce

As a professional speaker, one of my biggest challenges is... Read More

IT Expenditure - Why Businesses Spend Huge Amounts on Ineffective IT Investments

Another IT White Elephant!It seems that almost every day we... Read More

Regaining Control - Nine Steps for New Managers

My client had faced the same challenge, which was frustrating... Read More

Steps in Using the Critical Incident Technique

STEPS IN USING THE CRITICAL INCIDENT TECHNIQUE:1) The incident. Read,... Read More

Problem Solving the Problem Solving Meeting

We go to meetings to share information, to report on... Read More

Five Key Strategies for Making Your Nonprofit Business More Effective

I love tennis both as a spectator and... Read More

Get Down With OCP: Evaluating DBA Job Applicants in an OCP World

Not long ago, weeding through DBA applicants with a tech... Read More

Better Management Performance - The Easy 3-Step Way

Managers make three mistakes when they try to run businesses.... Read More

Dialogue vs. Discussion

Have you ever sat in a meeting where everyone is... Read More

The Top 10 Things They Don?t Teach You In Business School

Here are 10 subjects that academia should be teaching their... Read More

Where Else in Your Business Do You Accept a 60% Failure Rate?

I recently surveyed CEOs and Business Leaders of large companies... Read More

Importance of Just-In-Time Inventory System

In today's competitive world shorter product life cycles, customers rapid... Read More

Cold Water Comments - What They Are and How to Manage Them!

Cold Water Comments - What They Are and How to... Read More

Five Ways to Influence Change in Others

Because of my work as a consultant, trainer and coach... Read More

Time Management and Team Development - The Yes and No of It

Sometimes.In fact making some small changes to the circumstances when... Read More

Five Steps to Better Employee Management

Hiring employees is a huge responsibility. Before hiring anyone, be... Read More

Let the Professionals Help You Out - Outsource

As your website grows in terms of attracting more footfalls,... Read More

Executive Performance -- Whos to Blame for Incompetent Managers?

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal raised the... Read More

10 Steps Towards A Stress-Free Introduction Into Management

Becoming a manager for the first time can be an... Read More

Lead to Succeed: The Seven Essential Steps to Work Leader Success

In my book "You're In Charge?What Now?" I use a... Read More

13 Comments on Bad Meetings

Bad meetings are a cultural malady that senior executives pass... Read More

Towards Intercultural Understanding

An individual's ability to forge effective relationships across cultures is... Read More

Money, Motivation, Success and Who?

It was 7:30 on a Saturday morning, and I was... Read More

Riding the Waves to Success

Last week I was confused and frustrated about a few... Read More

How To Decrease Profits Without Really Trying

Hurting your sales efforts can be accomplished easily with the... Read More

ISO 9001 What Records Does My Business Need To Keep?

Which documents must I keep for ISO 9001?In addition to... Read More

Relationship Building - 5 Tips and 5 Questions

And is isn't hard - it's more about focusing on... Read More

A Tricky Supervision Challenge

Many managers believe that treating their team members as responsible... Read More