The nightmare of litigation: A survivor’s true story
After being sued, David dreaded seeing patients and felt always on guard. He was ready to quit obstetrics. A physician mentor explains how David reclaimed his life.
A set-up for litigation stress
Surveys reveal that many medical students are exposed to serious trauma such as sexual abuse or domestic violence prior to entering medical school.8 They then enter medical training, which has been described as a “neglectful abusive family system,”9 and which adds trauma and toxic shame—this continues into a career punctuated with acute episodes of severe trauma such as medical errors, unexpected death of patients, and litigation stress.
Breast cancer, traumatic birth cause acute stress
David read books on trauma10 and suffering,11,12 and began to explore ways to apply his new insight. He read journal articles that described acute stress reaction in patients diagnosed with breast cancer,13 traumatic birth,14 and spontaneous abortion.15 Now he understood why patients sometimes left his office bewildered and disoriented, unable to retain any information, and why patients with chronic trauma experience functional somatic symptoms. He also learned how to respond more effectively.
The outcome: Self-empowerment
Together we studied his written narratives of patient encounters and did role plays of these encounters. He was a good student, and his ability to communicate empathy and support eventually matched his technical proficiency. Increasingly, not only patients, but also employees and colleagues turned to him for listening in times of stress. Their positive feedback enhanced his sense of well-being. His newly acquired empowerment and sense of control was key to his success.
Over the course of 8 months, he traveled full circle from trauma victim to healer.
Litigation stress: Take it seriously
When taken seriously, much can be done to transform litigation stress into physician empowerment. Studies need to be done on stress disorders in physicians, so as to refute the culture of denial that exists around the trauma inflicted by malpractice litigation. Innovative programs need to be developed to minimize the harmful effect of litigation and to support physicians suffering litigation stress.
