There is a tremendous lack of understanding between physicians and lawyers, and the persistent hostility between these two professions is counterproductive. However, professionals in these fields have more in common than one might think. With some effort on both sides, they should be able to understand each other better.

Ob.gyns. go into medicine to heal. They want to deliver babies and do the other wonderful things that drew them into obstetrics and medical care in general. But they also want to make a living, raise their children, and have a good life.

Lawyers want to represent their clients well. They want to give their clients security and help to ensure a future for people who suffer devastating injuries. They care about their clients just as physicians care about their patients. And, like physicians, lawyers want to make a living, provide for their families, and have a good future.

Everyone has heard the message from insurance companies, and read everywhere, that ours is a litigious society. However, most people are not as litigious as you may think. The overwhelming majority of people who seek the help of a lawyer hate the idea of a lawsuit. They are just in desperate circumstances.

Although physicians practice in fear of a lawsuit, there are fewer cases filed per capita today than there were in the 1700s! The majority of noncriminal trial days in U.S. courtrooms today involve corporations suing each other and family law disputes. In the area of obstetric litigation, the number of lawsuits filed is declining. Walk the hallways of most civil courthouses, and you will find the courtrooms dark and the judges in chambers wondering where the lawsuits went.

Are there obnoxious lawyers? Oh, yes. Are there lawyers who take trivial or frivolous cases? Yes, but not many because they quickly will go out of business. Medical cases are expensive and risky, and the lawyer does not get paid unless the lawsuit is successful. Most lawyers who do this work are interested only in very clear and very serious cases. Anything else represents potential economic disaster.

Are there lousy physicians? Yes. You’ve probably dealt with some and heard of others. But these are the exceptions. I’ve been a plaintiff’s attorney for 36 years and practiced in many different states. Very, very few times have I run into a lousy physician whom I felt shouldn’t be allowed to practice medicine. Most of the physicians who end up on the other side of the table from me are very competent, caring physicians who just made a human mistake that caused a serious injury. When they face a potential lawsuit, it’s just another aspect of the medicine business–an aspect that they don’t understand and certainly don’t like, but it’s just part of doing business.

I’m a professional liability specialist. I don’t just sue doctors, I also sue lawyers and other professionals such as architects and accountants. That’s right–lawyers get sued, too. Indeed, many lawyers, including myself, have been sued at one time or another. No professional likes to be accused of malpractice or even to be challenged. The difference is that lawyers understand the process better than most physicians because they are dealing in their own arena. Lawsuits are part of the business. As a physician, the more you understand about the legal process, the better you will be able to deal with this aspect of the business life.

Let me explain where plaintiffs come from in obstetric cases. This is how a client typically finds me:

A woman who assumed she had a normal baby gives birth to a baby with a serious defect. She feels that her baby has been destroyed. Perhaps she and the father hear from pediatric neurologists that they are facing a lifetime of 24-hour-a-day care. The parents may feel that their lives are being ruined, that the lives of their other children and extended family members are being ruined. They may wonder, “What do I do about this? How do I provide for my child?” These are the kinds of thoughts that drive some people to seek help.

Most people do not turn to lawyers. One study found that only 10% of “actionable” medical cases (situations where patients had a legitimate reason to sue) ever resulted in a legal filing because in the other 90% of cases, the patients weren’t angry. They went on with their lives. There are people out there who have brain-damaged babies but they love their doctors and they never sought the advice of a lawyer. Why? Probably because their doctors continued to communicate with them.

Often new clients complain that the doctor stopped talking to them. The doctor shut down when there was a bad result. The doctor wouldn’t answer their questions or be honest with them. Other doctors involved in the case stopped talking to them. A wall went up. These people are not stupid, and they get angry. Then they go see their general-practice lawyer, or a lawyer whom a friend knows, and that lawyer calls me. It is a rare occasion for a person to come to me and say, “I want to sue.” Clients usually say, “I’ve never sued anyone, and I hate the idea of suing. Nobody in my family has ever sued. But I don’t know what to do about this terrible situation.”

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