Physicians hold three deep, dark fears:
- Outliving their money.
- Getting sued.
- Losing the lawsuit— and saying goodbye to all of their assets they worked so hard to build.
You help your doctor clients allay the first fear.
However, you can set yourself apart from other financial advisors competing for doctors’ attention by addressing the second and third fears.
Let’s dive into medical malpractice lawsuits.
My Medical Malpractice Lawsuit Story
In my career as a general surgeon, I was sued once.
It’s hard to describe the true impact of a lawsuit on a physician’s personal and professional life.
The lawsuit challenged my professional identity as a good doctor. As I read the seven pages of the legal document served to me, my brain summarized the message with four words. “You’re a bad doctor.” Further, now that identity included “defendant.”
The next morning I called my med mal carrier. The lawyer they assigned to me, the insurance company and I all thought I would prevail in court. Still, my medical malpractice insurance carrier gave me the choice of settling out of court. I could avoid the legal wear-and-tear. Plus, the insurance company knew that their costs of the proposed settlement would most likely be less than the legal costs of trying the case. I did not want a settlement on my record, so I decided to prove my innocence in court.
I wanted to ask my colleagues in the surgeon’s lounge, “Have you ever been sued? What was it like for you? Do you have any tips for me?”
I could not have that conversation. The very first thing my malpractice insurance carrier advised me to do was to NOT talk about the lawsuit with anyone. I thought that maybe I was the only surgeon at the hospital who had ever been sued. I was not. It’s just that other sued doctors were given the same instruction to keep their mouths closed.
After I was sued, I treated my patients differently. I went about my days differently. I was forever looking over my shoulder wondering, “Where’s the next lawsuit going to come from?”
The patient who sued me fired two lawyers along the way. The case dragged on and on. While he was not a lawyer, he wound up representing himself in court.
This case was like a dark cloud following me for over three years before I prevailed. As we left the courthouse, my lawyer said to me, “Congratulations. You might not feel like celebrating, though. Even when you win a lawsuit, you lose.”
Truer words were never spoken!
Am I Alone?
Here’s what we know from the most recent Medscape Malpractice Report “Is Your Risk of Being Sued Rising?” You can sign up for a free Medscape account and dive in to study all the numbers.
Over half (55%) of all doctors surveyed in 2023 had been sued.
The risk of being sued is correlated with the physician’s medical specialty. The most sued specialty? It’s my own tribe of general surgeons; 9 out of 10 of us have been sued.
The rate at which lawsuits were filed decreased since the pandemic. The past survey done in 2019 reported that 62% of specialists and 52% of primary physicians were sued.
The volume of lawsuits varies across the country. Many states have implemented a damages cap for personal injury cases.
In most cases, the legal outcome goes the physicians’ way. The court dismisses 40% of cases, one third are settled out of court, and if a case goes to jury trial, the physician prevails about 90% of the time.
Huge plaintiff rewards are very rare. Almost all plaintiff judgments and settlements are below $2 million.
A physician who has been sued for medical negligence understands in a new way that anyone could sue them for anything. They could get sued if someone trips and falls on their sidewalk, their teenager causes a car accident or one of their staff violates a patient’s confidentiality. These are the true threats that could wipe out their hard-earned assets.
Their risk of becoming a target of a lawsuit is tied to the ease with which lawyers can get their hands on any potential settlements.
What does this mean for you?
This morning in an hour-long live coaching call, the participating financial advisors and I talked about how they can use this knowledge to attract, engage and serve more doctor clients.
Here are some highlights:
1. Have a conversation with physician prospects and clients about lawsuits. I suggested a script.
2. Educate doctors about the biggest legal threats to their assets–and it’s not medical negligence.
3. Explore ways to protect doctors’ assets that might be “flapping in the wind.” When lawyers know that they will have a hard time collecting judgments, they are less likely to sue. They move onto easier cases.
For example, the court awarded Ronald Goldsmith’s estate a $96 million settlement. Why doesn’t the estate seize OJ Simpson’s fully-funded NFL pension, estimated to be worth as much as $5 million? It’s because his pension funds are fully protected from legal judgments and bankruptcy.
Your doctor client may have hundreds of thousands of dollars in accounts receivables that could potentially be seized in a judgement. You could advise this physician to take out a small loan against their accounts receivables. That could provide just enough collection nuisance that a lawyer on the fence about taking the case could decide to walk away.
Please note: I am not a lawyer and I do not provide legal advice. I ‘m just sharing the great tips I have picked up over a decade.
I also shared my own experience generating revenue as an expert in medical litigation. This might be a great solution for doctors who want to catch up after COVID-related revenue reductions.
Would you like to access this kind of insider insight?
These are just a few quick tips culled from an hour-long call.
Would you like to be a part of a conversation like this? When you enroll in the Cracking the Physician Code course, you, too, have access to live bi-monthly coaching calls for a year!
Click here to learn more and register.
Click here to hear what Ed Slott has to say.