I do not feel that I truly survived my lawsuit. Sure, I am alive, but the emotional toll it took on me during the four years that we co-existed was tremendous. That being said, I do feel that it taught me several things that may be helpful to others.
My lawsuit occurred very early in my career. The series of events that led up to it happened when I was a mere 15 months into my pediatric practice. Being named in a lawsuit as a young new physician led to serious self-doubt and much thought about how to abandon medicine as a career entirely. Being $100,000 in debt from my medical education (a sum that pales in comparison to what many of my trainees these days have racked up) certainly motivated me to continue practicing medicine. It also influenced my decision to pay back my student loans as quickly as possible, despite favorable interest rates. I saw my medical school debt as a psychological burden more than a financial one. I could not abandon medicine until those debts were paid.
Discovering that other physicians I knew and respected had been involved in lawsuits was my salvation. Being sued is an isolating and shameful experience even though 75 to 99 percent of physicians will experience this during the span of their careers (75 percent of “low risk” specialties and 99 percent of “high risk”). We don’t like to talk about it, so it seems as if it is an uncommon experience, an anomaly. After I learned that the records pertaining to my case had been requested by a legal team, I shared my angst with my partners. I was surprised to hear that both of them had been through lawsuits of their own. But it is not something that most physicians will readily advertise.
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