190. Wisdom Learned from A Malpractice Lawsuit: You Don't Know What You Don’t Know with Dr. Rachel Bickling

The Mindful Healers Podcast with Dr. Jessie Mahoney and Dr. Ni-Cheng Liang

The legal system is not medicine.

Very little is in your control in a medicolegal cases.

What is in your control?

How you respond and whether you get help and support along the way.

Mindfulness, self-compassion, therapy, and coaching are all key to staying as healthy, balanced, and buoyant as possible.

Lawsuits pull the rug out from under physicians. There is trauma behind every curve.

Lawsuits bring out the harmful side of our common default thought patterns as physicians.

Many physicians who experience a malpractice suit end up leaving the practice of medicine.

Listen to this episode for human advice for navigating a lawsuit.

What is shared in this episode is not medical or legal advice. It is the personal experience of our special guest, Dr. Rachel Bickling.

What does she wish she had known to do beforehand:

• Ask questions and get help. You don’t know what you don't know when it comes to the law

• Don't think like a doctor.

  • Don’t be a helper. Don't catastrophize.

  • It’s not about you or what’s right or just.

  • It is no place for shame, blame, guilt, victimhood, martyrdom, personalization, right and wrong, all or none.

• The legal system is not medicine.

  • It’s not about scientific truth.

  • It’s about who can tell the most poignant story.

  • Not all facts matter.

  • What is medically patient may not be legally permissible.

• You can choose not to be a victim.

• Focus on what is in your control.

• Get help and support for your mental health.

• Get a clinical mentor to support you while you continue to practice medicine during a lawsuit.

• Remember that of course you are overwhelmed, stressed, doubting yourself, and distracted.

• Take time off.

• Practice mindfulness and more mindfulness.

Find Dr. Rachel on FB: www.facebook.com/rachel.bickling

If you are feeling overwhelmed, stressed and/or are doubting yourself, coaching to support yourself is a brilliant choice.

Move beyond consuming this amazing podcast.

True change happens when you work with us - virtually and/or in-person.

Coach with Jessie - 1:1, in topic-focused small groups, or at a retreat. www.jessiemahoneymd.com

Work with both of us in person at The Mindful Healers Annual Retreat www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreats

Hire one or both of us to speak or lead a workshop on any topic covered in the Mindful Healers Podcast. We also create team retreats, teach yoga, and offer experiential mindfulness for teams, groups, grand rounds, institutions, and conferences.

www.jessiemahoneymd.com/mindful-healers-podcast

www.awakenbreath.org

www.jessiemahoneymd.com/speaking

*Nothing shared in the Mindful Healers Podcast is medical or legal advice.

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