Collaborative Practice Agreements

The act alone of a physician entering into a Collaborative Practice Agreement (CPA) with a Nurse Practitioner does not create a duty owed by the physician to the Nurse Practitioner's patients.

If the physician is not engaged in a physician-patient relationship with the patient (i.e. by not performing any affirmative act with regard to the patient), the physician therefore owes the patient no duty. The terms of the CPA are also critical as far as whether they place any increased liability on the physician for decisions made by the NP, and whether the NP has the independent authority to treat patients as he or she deems fit. As such, a physician does not enter into a physician-patient relationship with each of a NP's patients merely by entering into a CPA with the NP.

Overcoming Fear in Litigation

F-E-A-R is definitely one of the worst four-letter words a trial has to address, especially when defending medical professionals. Many physicians and nurses are terrified at the prospect of being sued by a patient, and possibly losing a case at trial. For doctors and nurses, lawsuits are about much more than money - they attack "who they are", because health care providers are so intricately connected with the service they provide.

At Bleeke, Dillon, Crandall, we try to address our client's fears as early as possible, because none of us do our best when we are afraid. When closely analyzed, clients in medical negligence cases have fears that are not rational, such as: going to jail, losing their home, becoming bankrupt, etc. - none of which are true risks in Indiana medical malpractice cases. Instead, these scary outcomes fall in the category of:

False
Events
Appearing
Real

We ask our clients to focus on what they can control - namely, providing their attorneys with the medical chart and the client's thought process for their decisions. We then ask our clients to stop worrying about things they can not control - and instead let us take care of the rest of the case by preparing the best possible defense.