Inside Medical Malpractice

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In the first episode of Season 5 of Inside Medical Malpractice Chris Rokosh brings together two remarkable repeat guests: RaDonda Vaught, a former Tennessee Registered Nurse whose medication error led to a patient's death, and Leilani Schweitzer, a mother who endured the devastating loss of her child due to a nurse's error. These unimaginable events could have not only shattered their lives but turned them into adversaries. Yet here they are, not as enemies, not destroyed, but united in a shared vision to improve patient safety. In this compelling conversation, RaDonda and Leilani demonstrate how profound personal loss can be transformed into a vision for positive change. Their collaboration represents a powerful testament to resilience and hope. Don't miss this inspiring episode that promises to reshape your perspective on patient safety. 

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This month on ‘Inside Medical Malpractice’, the third in our ‘best of the best’ podcast series!  Chris Rokosh ends almost every episode with the question “What is the most important thing you’d like doctors, nurses, lawyers, and the public to know about medical malpractice?” The answers are as different as our guests’ unique perspectives….but always astute, insightful, and thought provoking. This episode includes a doctor, a mother who lost her son due to a medical error and 4 lawyers, one of whom shares her birth story. Listen in as guests Duncan Embury, Lelani Schweitzer, Richard Halpern, Paul Cahill, Maia Tomljanovic and Dr. Danielle Ofri share their thoughts. You’re going to really enjoy this one!  For more medical legal education, visit our newly updated website at https://www.connectmlx.com/. 

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This month, on Inside Medical Malpractice, part three of a 4-part series on Trauma Informed Lawyering. Listen in as lawyer Sonia Nijjar, associate lawyer and director of business development and knowledge management at Neinstein Personal Injury Law Firm in Toronto tells us how dealing with medical malpractice clients at a very difficult time in their lives affect her.  Knowing how very wrong things can go in healthcare led to a hypervigilance during her own pregnancy and opened her eyes to significant challenges her clients experience when interacting with the healthcare system.  There’s insight on how healthcare access is affected by diversity, equality and inclusion highlighting the need for cultural competence in the presence of power and privilege.  Sonia shares how learning about trauma informed lawyering broadened her perspective and changed her practice, now giving credence to the experiences and trauma experienced by her clients.  Sonia also shares some of the greatest insights of the trauma informed workshop, one of them being that every lawyer, at times, has felt ill equipped to deal with trauma.  Additional insights? Learning to meet clients ‘where they’re at’ and offering a safe place to tell their story.  My favorite quote; “We’ve got to name what we’re looking at.  We’re looking at trauma.” This is another great episode in a fabulous series.  Listen to it, talk about it, and share it!

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In this short, but highly personal episode, lawyer Sonia Nijjar tells us how she spends her time when she’s not working,  the challenge of Toronto winters, her life as a curious, independent child, her favorite foods, her all time favorite show, her greatest joy (her son!) and so much more. Learn what this intelligent, articulate lawyer would love to do if she weren’t lawyering.  Her strategy for happiness?  The balance of “not letting any part of me become all of me.” This is a great episode.  Don’t miss it!

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This informative presentation features Dr. Sharon Dore, principal author, and Clinical Associate Professor at McMaster University. The goal of Guideline No. 441 is the early identification of potential fetal decompensation, allowing for interventions that support fetal well-being, or expedite delivery. Changes around assessment of fundal height, fetal movement, amniotic fluid measurement and fetal health surveillance affect the nursing and medical standards of care, as well as the analysis of medical legal matters. 

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This month, on Inside Medical Malpractice, part two a 4-part series on Trauma Informed Lawyering. Listen in as Kara Hardin former lawyer, psychotherapist, mental health educator and co-owner of The Practice Lab talks about how our childhood search for safety, security, connection and belonging continue to shape our actions as adults.  Learn to notice how and when trauma response shows up and deciding how to move forward with compassion. There’s a fascinating discussion on how the ways we learn to survive as children, are the very things that can hold us back in adulthood.  Discover skills to help others feel believed, supported, and trusted, and safe to speak in difficult situations that involve the telling of their trauma stories. One of my favorite quotes?  “To be human and alive is to be exposed to grief and loss.”  You will love her insightful answers to the most important things we should all know about trauma in healthcare.  This is a great episode, and a key part of the Trauma Informed Lawyering series!

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This month, on Inside Medical Malpractice, the first of a 4 part series on Trauma Informed Lawyering.  Whether you’re a lawyer, a healthcare provider, a family who has experienced medical trauma, or someone who knows some who has, I promise there is something valuable here. This series will focus on the personal and vicarious trauma experienced during pregnancy and birth. Listen in as Olivia Scobie, Co-Founder of the Canadian Perinatal Mental Health Training and Registered Social Worker starts with key phrases and terms, and learning how to recognize trauma in others and ourselves.  Olivia will teach us about theories of trauma, how our brains remember and respond to traumatic experiences, the multiple sites of birth trauma, self regulation, co-regulation, and the window of tolerance.  Lawyers, learn how to better support your clients by understanding why they act the way they do in difficult situations, and how their own trauma can become yours. Olivia offers insight into how the impact of birth trauma can keep clients with potentially viable lawsuits from seeking legal counsel. She also has great advice on the most important things we should all know about trauma in healthcare.  Don’t miss this episode and the entire series!

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 In this short, but personal episode, Olivia Scobie offers fun and surprising insights into her pastimes, favourite food at an Egyptian brunch, the very particular music she dances to, the TV show “Naked and Afraid” and the alternate career path she might have chosen. Olivia shares two strategies for happiness (first of all, don’t focus on happiness) and offers her younger self some really heartfelt advice. Who is it that influenced Olivia the most and what do people must often get wrong about her? Listen and find out! 

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Here it is! Part 2 of the open and honest conversation with former Tennessee RN RaDonda Vaught. On March 25, 2022, a jury found RaDonda guilty of criminally negligent homicide for her part in a fatal medication error at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center. If you haven’t heard part one of this conversation, go back and listen.  It opens on the fateful day RaDonda accidently injected a paralyzing drug into Charlene Murphey and ends with her tearful meeting of Mrs. Murphey’s grandson in the Tractor Supply Store. Part two picks up the story after the nursing board had completed their investigation, leaving RaDonda with both her reputation and nursing licence intact. Then, an anonymous tip, a surprise inspection, state and federal investigations, sanctions to the hospital, and a criminal indictment. The story of how this medication error ended up in a criminal courtroom 4 ½ years after Mrs. Murphey’s death is one you’ll never forget.  The trial was watched around the world and has left a resounding impact on healthcare.  This is an important conversation for anyone who might ever end up in the hospital.  Don’t miss it.

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On this episode of ‘Inside Medical Malpractice’, an interview like you’ve never heard before.  Listen in as Chris Rokosh talks to former Registered Nurse RaDonda Vaught. On March 25, 2022, a jury found RaDonda guilty of criminally negligent homicide for her part in a fatal medication error at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee. Criminal prosecution of a nurse is rare, but it happened.  And, when things go wrong, it’s easier to talk about a bad nurse than to examine a flawed system.  RaDonda will tell us a story which, she says, is so much bigger than herself. She reminds us that she only has a story because someone lost their life. Part one of this podcast starts on the fateful day RaDonda incidentally administered a paralyzing drug and ends with the touching story of how she met Mrs. Murphey’s grandson in the Tractor Supply Store. This interview is open.  And honest. And real. Don’t miss it.