University of Richmond Offers What Could Be First Medical Malpractice Class for Doctors and Law Students
April 27, 2006
Seventeen physicians, worried about the toll that malpractice insurance is taking on their careers, recently completed what is believed to be the first medical malpractice law school course in the country to be offered to doctors and law students at the same time.
Offered at the University of Richmond School of Law, it was taught by Sean P. Byrne, an adjunct professor, certified EMT and attorney who specializes in representing physicians and hospitals against medical malpractice lawsuits.
Byrne says that interest in his class was so high that The Doctor's Company, the nation's leading malpractice insurance firm, offered a 5 percent premium discount to physicians who take and pass “Medical Malpractice Law and Litigation.” Among the doctor-students were surgeons and obstetricians/gynecologists, who pay extremely high malpractice insurance rates.
"A couple of the doctors in the class hadn’t been in a classroom for 35
years," Byrne says. "That they would take this class, and that their insurance company would help pay for it, shows how much of a factor legal issues are in their practices."
Byrne said any animosity that physicians might feel toward lawyers is tempered by the fact that Byrne represents them, not plaintiffs, in his practice, and that self-preservation compels them to learn more about the legal system.
"In this economic environment, there's great debate about health care issues like the high cost of insurance and tort reform," he says. "There's a disconnect between health care providers and attorneys and a growing distrust of each other. One of the things that's not discussed
is the need for education and communication—educating lawyers about the practice of medicine, and educating doctors about the law. What better to provide that education and improve communication than to bring both groups together and have them study medical malpractice together?"
Some of Virginia's top lawyers, physicians and insurance providers agree, and already have offered ringing endorsements of Byrne's class, as well as promises to drop by and be guest teachers.
"This class presents a unique opportunity for physicians to arm themselves with knowledge about the law and therefore be much better prepared to deal with their inevitable interaction with the medical legal system over the course of their careers," says David A. Ellington, M.D., president of the Medical Society of Virginia.
The for-credit course, which met on Saturdays, hosted guests from very different perspectives to present their cases and debate each other, among them Richard Anderson, M.D., chairman and CEO of The Doctor's Company, the leading insurer of physicians; Malcolm P. McConnell, III, a lawyer who represents patients in medical malpractice cases; and Scott Johnson, general counsel of the Medical Society of Virginia.
The course will be offered again next spring in partnership with the university’s School of Continuing Studies and at the initiative of Porcher Taylor, III, program director of the university's Paralegal Studies and Legal Assistant Program.
Taylor sat in on the first class and talked about the course with several students. Initial reviews were overwhelmingly positive, he said.
"One doctor told me that he was happy to drive 150 miles one-way for the class," Taylor said. "He got up at 5:30 a.m. for his drive. I observed that he was taking copious notes during theentire five-hour session, as were nearly all the doctors and law students.
“Five doctors brought their laptops to take notes. We also had doctors commute as far away as Hampton Roads and Arlington—each a two-hour drive. To the family practice doctor from Hampton Roads, I mentioned it was my hope that we might offer the class on-site in his area. He said that would not work unless we could 'clone Sean.' That's how impressed he was with Sean's enthusiastic and authoritative delivery."