Doctors and Litigation: The L Word

• Communication After Catastrophe

  Welcome to Season 3 of Doctors and Litigation: The L Word! We start off with an update on the LEAP Course (Litigation Education and Performance) -- sign up from now through December 1, 2025 with coupon code LEAP100 and get $100 off. Now with up to 16 hours of Category 1 AMA CME Credits! https://www.doctorsandlitigation.com/LEAP/signup Our first conversation in Season 3 is with Dr. Anthony Orsini of The Orsini Way. Communication with patients or families after unexpected medical events is crucial, but most of us have no formal training in how to do it well. Compassionate and skilled conversations can pave the way for understanding and closure for families. However, when handled poorly or defensively, these conversations can create resentment, distrust, and anger, which can also make litigation more likely.  What do patients and families want from us in these moments? What do we do with our body language? What happens if we cry? Can we show compassion by touch, on the hand or the shoulder? Why is this so difficult? Have we lost our humanity in the name of professionalism? Dr. Orsini has spent the last 25 years developing proven communication techniques that help doctors build rapport and quickly form trusting relationships with their patients. Come along as we discuss evidence based strategies to handling these conversations better.   

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• Conversation With a Plaintiff's Attorney: Finding Common Ground

  In this episode (the last of Season Two), Dr. Pensa  sits down to speak with a plaintiff's attorney. However, her guest, Chad Englehardt, is not your average plaintiff's attorney. Chad is a highly lauded attorney, law professor, and advocate of Rick Boothman's Michigan Model (for more on that, listen to Episode 13 of Season Two.)  We talk extensively about CRP (Communication - Resolution) programs, patient safety, and the dysfunction of our current legal system, which re-traumatizes patients and clinicians alike. If the first rule of medicine is 'First, do no harm,' then he feels the second rule in medicine, and the first in law, should be: "Do no further harm." We also talk a bit about third party investors and litigation funding (which we have not yet covered in the podcast, but is of great importance...we'll revisit it!) During the course of our conversation, Mr. Englehardt mentions two books: "Win - Win" by Rebecca Sposita, Esq "Gain Without Pain" by Greg Hammer, MD You can reach Chad via email at [email protected].  We'll be back in a few months with the start of Season Three!

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• DOJ vs. Doctor: One Physician's Victory

  Following up after episode 15, "What to Know When the Government Comes Knocking," Dr. Pensa interviews a physician who went up against the US Department of Justice -- and won. Dr. Muhamad Aly Rifai is a practicing psychiatrist, boarded in psychiatry and internal medicine, who was indicted on charges of healthcare fraud by the US government in 2022, following seven years of investigation. Dr. Rifai was confident he was innocent, and confident in his billing practices -- and despite intimidation by the government, threats of imprisonment for up to 40 years, and very long odds, he refused to plead guilty to a lesser charge or settle. He won against the US Government after a 6-day trial, and is here to share what he learned in his ordeal. This Department of Justice press release describes the accusations against Dr. Rifai. (I feel they should update the headline!) After demonstrating that the case was baseless and should never have been brought to trial in the first place, along with his resounding victory in court, Dr. Rifai filed a motion for sanctions and to recoup his substantial legal fees.  In the wake of that motion, one prosecuting attorney was fired, and two others have 'retired.' The motion, as of May 2025, is still in limbo. Dr. Rifai shares his story in an effort to educate all of us, and to empower physicians going through similar circumstances.   

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• What You Should Know When The Government Comes Knocking

  The Department of Justice is waging a war on healthcare fraud, and sometimes even well-meaning doctors can get swept up in it. Today's interview with healthcare law attorney Anthony Box will shed some light on this high stakes topic.  Tony Box has extensive experience not only in defending doctors against government allegations -- but he also previously investigated and prosecuted these cases as a federal prosecutor and FBI agent. He knows both sides of this coin very well.  Host Dr. Gita Pensa and Attorney Box break down the basics of what every doctor needs to know about governmental investigations and litigation.   

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• Gotta Have (Good) Faith...and Beware the 'Lizard's Tail'

  When an insurance company is accused of acting in bad faith, it's alleged that they failed to act fairly and reasonably in handling a claim -- often related to not agreeing to a reasonable settlement when the financial risk to the insured at trial was known to be substantial. In this episode, host Dr. Gita Pensa talks with Florida attorney Dale Swope about his decades of experience with bad faith lawsuits.   Mr. Swope emphasizes that some liability insurers are more reliable and fair-minded than others, so it’s important to consider an insurer’s reputation. Just as an adverse medical event doesn’t always mean malpractice, an unfavorable legal outcome doesn’t automatically mean the insurer acted in bad faith. However, insurers do have obligations to their policyholders—and if those obligations aren’t met and there’s a negative legal outcome, it can lay the groundwork for a bad faith lawsuit.  Mr. Swope also makes starkly clear the importance of knowing who you're really working for when you're working for a mega-group. (You'll want to check the name on your W-2 immediately.) Dale Swope is managing partner of Swope, Rodante P.A. which is the development of the solo firm practice he founded six months out of law school, in 1979. In his more than thirty years of service as a Board-Certified Civil Trial Specialist, and previously a Board-Certified Business Litigation Specialist, Mr. Swope has won many awards, and holds a reputation as one of the preeminent attorneys practicing in Florida in the area of insurance bad faith.

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