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Course Details

Course Information
  • smart_display Format

    On-Demand

  • signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level

    Intermediate

  • work Practice Area

    Personal Injury and Med Mal

Date & Time
  • event Date

    Wednesday, August 14, 2024

  • schedule Time

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

  • timer Program Length

    90 minutes

Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.

$197.00
CLE
ALL

This CLE webinar will discuss how to combat plaintiff's use of "reptile" theory and tactics in medical malpractice litigation, including a discussion of strategies to prevent witnesses from being manipulated into providing damaging testimony that admits liability.

Faculty

Ken Broda-Bahm
Senior Litigation Consultant
Persuasion Strategies

Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm has provided research and strategic advice on several hundred cases across the country for the past 21 years, applying a doctorate in communication emphasizing the areas of legal persuasion and rhetoric. As a tenured Associate Professor of Communication Studies, he has taught courses including legal communication, argumentation, persuasion, and research methods. He has trained and consulted in 19 countries around the world and is Past President of the American Society of Trial Consultants.

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Karen M. Shimonsky
Managing Partner
Quintairos, Prieto, Wood, & Boyer, P.A.

Ms. Shimonsky primarily handles health care defense litigation including both long term care cases and medical malpractice cases. She also assists health care companies with other issues that inevitably arise in the industry including navigating regulatory issues, developing and implementing proactive risk management protocols, and providing general legal guidance as technical legal issues arise. Outside of the health care industry, Ms. Shimonsky handles products liability cases, complex business disputes, general professional malpractice including representing clients in administrative board matters, and a variety of diverse issues depending on her clients’ needs. 

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Lauren M. Lundquist
Senior Litigation Counsel
Kaufman, Borgeest & Ryan, LLP

Ms. Lundquist is an associate practicing in the areas of Skilled Nursing, Assisted Living, Home Care & Hospice and Medical Malpractice Defense. She has extensive experience representing physicians, hospitals, nursing homes and various health care providers in a variety of matters.

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Description

Convincing a jury that the defendants--whether they are physicians, nurses, or medical facilities--caused the plaintiff's injury by knowingly disregarding patient safety is the goal of reptile tactics in med mal cases. Outrageous verdicts emanate from juries that believe the defendants knew they violated their own safety rules but refuse to admit it.

Nothing compounds damages like the belief that a tragic injury could have been avoided if only someone had followed the alleged "rules." Losses resulting from a "near miss" typically feel greater than the same loss perceived as inevitable.

Policies and procedures often play a role in plaintiff's strategy, making limiting their discovery and use a defense priority. Defense witnesses must be alert from the start to avoid making forced errors and inadvertently admitting liability. They must be taught how to recognize the reptile "setup" in even innocuous questions.

Listen as this experienced panel of medical malpractice defense attorneys and litigation advisors offers strategies and practices for defusing reptile theory and strategy.

Outline

  1. Reptile tactics in med mal cases
  2. Defense strategies
    1. Discovery
    2. Depositions
      1. Confirmation bias
      2. Anchoring bias
      3. Cognitive dissonance
      4. Hypocrisy paradigm
    3. Pretrial strategies to limit reptile
    4. Anchoring
  3. Developing trends

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key questions:

  • How can counsel teach deponents to avoid answering reptile questions in absolute terms?
  • How can defense counsel remove the plaintiff's anchor?
  • How can defense attorneys spot and identify reptile tactics before they occur?
  • What are sources of information and additional instruction for combatting reptile tactics?