Watch the video or read the transcript on the School of Law website to learn more about Medicolegal Day” and insights for both future physicians and lawyers.
The fear of being sued for malpractice is a looming concern for many healthcare professionals. The reality is that any physician, no matter how skilled, is likely to face a medical malpractice lawsuit at some point in their career. The aftermath of such lawsuits can be emotionally draining, and doctors often feel unprepared for the legal process. Lawyers unfamiliar with the intricacies of the healthcare field, meanwhile, can be intimidated going head-to-head in a deposition with medical professionals about a subject they know little about.
Medicolegal Day, a joint program combining UW Emergency Medicine residents and UW Law students, aims to prepare both cohorts for the realities of medical malpractice lawsuits. The day includes presentations on the basics of medical malpractice and lessons learned from prior medical malpractice lawsuits, an expert panel made up of local plaintiff and defense lawyers with medical malpractice expertise, and a mock deposition based on a real missed diagnosis case.
During the mock deposition, law students question the resident doctors one-on-one, simulating a real-life deposition. The doctors practice being deposed in a safe space, receiving detailed feedback from the students. The program not only prepares doctors for the legal challenges they may face, but also helps the law students develop skills they may not learn until later in their career.
Find out more about how this cross-disciplinary educational experience unites opposing sides of medical malpractice lawsuits to help prepare one another for challenging situations that may lie ahead.
For further reading, please check out UW Law’s 2019 article “So, Sue Me” as well as UW Emergency Medicine’s 2023 article, “UW EM Residents Team Up with UW Law Students for Novel Medicolegal Workshop.”
