The Blame Game: Finger Pointing in Charting and Litigation

About this episode

The episode discusses the blame game among healthcare professionals during litigation and charting practices.

REMEMBER: Use code LEAP100 until December 1st, 2025, to get 100$ off of the LEAP for Clinicians course! Eligible for 16 Category 1 CME/CNE Credits. Learn the essential mindset and skillset you need as a clinician in litigation, all in one place. This month: finger pointing among health care professionals after an adverse event, or during litigation. We've all seen it: the tertiary care center dumping on the community hospital in their notes. The specialist criticizes the primary care doctor or the ER's management. The doctor blames the nurse. The nurse charts defensively, ending with "MD Aware." The attending blames the resident. The resident blames the attending! All in a chart war, preserved for perpetuity. Or even more sinister: a surgeon, after an adverse surgical event, tells the family the awful news -- and then tries to implicate someone else: the anesthesiologist, the CRNA, the radiologist who read the study... You know we could go on. We've all seen it. And then, once litigation starts -- now we're co-defendants. How does this 'blame game' play for a jury? Is the chart the place for these disagreements? (Spoiler alert: NO.) Can finger pointing in charting actually…

People in this episode

Host: Gita Pensa MD

Guest: Heather Hansen

Topics covered

• litigation
• charting
• health care professionals
• adverse events
• communication
• medical malpractice

Keywords

• blame game
• litigation
• charting
• medical malpractice
• communication
• adverse events

Sponsors

LEAP for Clinicians

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: LEAP for Clinicians

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