Heather Hansen is a communications consultant and attorney. She can be reached at Heather Hansen Presents.
Twenty years as a medical malpractice defense attorney has given me a superpower. I’m an extraordinary translator. In the courtroom, we occasionally hire translators to interpret when a witness speaks a language other than English. They help the jury understand the witness and collect the information they need to make a decision. But we need someone able to translate for the jury when a physician starts speaking “medicine.” This also …
Recently, one of my coaching clients came to our Zoom session looking exhausted. I wasn’t surprised. She’s a physician, a leader at her hospital, and the past two years have been a lot for her. COVID takes its toll in many ways, and it has changed her forever. But this day her biggest challenge was something a little bit different. She was tired of cameras.
“I’m seeing so many patients through …
Every doctor is an advocate, and every health care provider advocates. An advocate is someone who publicly supports something. Doctors advocate for avoiding smoking, losing weight, and taking medications. In those instances, doctors are advocating for better health. And that’s good. Do you know what’s better? Doctors advocating for themselves, for each other, and for their patients. And advocating is a skill that can be taught.
I’ve taught it. For over …
Twenty years of defending doctors and hospitals in medical malpractice cases has made me into a nervous patient. When you see the worst, you look for it. At least I do. That’s why when I was scheduled for a minor elective procedure, I was nervous. I set aside the day, canceling all of my depositions and planning to spend the day on emails and phone calls. My specialist’s office texted …
I’m a trial attorney, and I’m a woman. Since 76 percent of all lead trial counsel are men, I know what it’s like to be a woman in a traditionally male profession. I also give workshops to women in the medical profession, and I listen to their stories of harassment. I’ve been following the #MeToo movement with interest. It started in Hollywood, and has expanded to Silicon Valley, to …
In the movie Malice, Alec Baldwin plays Dr. Jed Hill, a surgeon who gives a famous speech during a deposition in a medical malpractice case. “”If you’re looking for God, he was in operating room #2 on November 17th, and he doesn’t like to be second-guessed … I am God.”
No one wants a doctor like that. And yet, maybe we do. We yearn for someone capable of healing all of our …
I was a chubby kid, but my parents still introduced me to lots of sports. Soccer, swimming, tennis, basketball; so many sports, when all I wanted to do was read and eat Doritos. I wasn’t particularly good at any of them, but some of my teams were better than good. We were champs. My swim team won the Cape Cod Summer League, my soccer team won its division one year, …
Long ago, I represented a doctor who was … difficult. He was a phenomenal surgeon, world famous in his field, but he was not warm and fuzzy — not even close. Cold and hard were more his speed. We spent two weeks together, on trial in city hall. It takes about two years from the time a case is filed to the time the case goes to court. During that …
“There was porn in the call room the first night I slept there.”
The call room is the room where doctors sleep — if they have minutes to catch some sleep — when they are on call. When you’re the first female doctor to ever be on the service, apparently you might find porn in that room.
“I told the partners they could keep the porn if they’d let me paint the …
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