157. When You Get Deposed - How to Lessen Fear, Anxiety, and Unnecessary Suffering

The Mindful Healers Podcast with Dr. Jessie Mahoney and Dr. Ni-Cheng Liang

Although being deposed as a treating physician in a third party liability case is never fun, this episode will help you prepare mindfully and intentionally, so you can suffer, stress and ruminate less.

Jessie shares a conversation with her husband, Mark, about how physicians can use mindfulness and knowledge to make the deposition process easier.

Mark is an attorney who has worked for nearly 20 years as a civil trial attorney. During his career, Mark has taken and defended hundreds of depositions–including dozens of depositions of treating physicians. Jessie also shares her own experience being deposed in a third party lawsuit.

At some point, every physician get deposed about something.

Physicians are frequently asked to appear for third party depositions with little information or knowledge about the process.

Most of the time they are not provided with an attorney to represent them.

Jessie and Mark discuss the common unhelpful thought patterns that increase physician anxiety, stress, and suffering.

We tend to:

Catastrophize, personalize, ruminate make it worse;

Want control;

Please others;

Accept responsibility for others’ actions;

Self-sacrifice and over-accommodate;

Blame ourselves for undesired outcomes even when they arent our fault.

Being mindfully aware of these tendencies lessens the fear, anxiety and unnecessary suffering that typically accompanies being deposed.

*Please note: Nothing in this episode constitutes any medical or legal advice and no physician-patient or attorney-client relationship is neither intended nor established. This episode does not apply to depositions for medical malpractice cases. In this case, you should have your own lawyer and follow their advice.

Reach out to Jessie for virtual coaching. Coaching helps you navigate depositions and all other life stressors with much more grace.. www.jessiemahoneymd.com. If you would like to do coaching in-person, join Jessie and Mark for a Nourish & Transform CME Retreat. We do intense coaching, lots of mindful yoga and mindfulness practice, and explore culinary medicine. www.jessiemahoneymd.com/retreat-nourish-and-transform