#435- Fighting Back: How Doctors Can Take Control in a Malpractice Battle with Dr. Gita Pensa

30min | 02/06/2025

Description

Looking to connect with a community of physician podcasters? We provide the tools, connections, and resources you need to amplify your voice and grow your audience. Be part of something exciting as we prepare to launch. Join the Doctor Podcast Network today!

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In this episode, Dr. Gita Pensa advocates for physicians navigating the storm of malpractice lawsuits. She opens up about the emotional and psychological toll of physicians being sued. She shares her own journey through litigation and how it inspired her to help others facing similar struggles.

Dr. Pensa helps refine doctors' mindset during litigation, providing insightful guidelines to help defend themselves with confidence and clarity during depositions and trials.

She recommends two goals for everyone in deposition; one is to accept the situation. Letting go of the emotions rather than argue over reality. At best grief, but don’t suffer guilt. Secondly, that physicians be good defendants for themselves. She stresses that the physician’s overall objective is to get the jury into their thought process, since they are not medical practitioners themselves.

She believes that by supporting each other and advocating for systemic change, physicians can not only survive litigation but grow stronger through it. She also encourages doctors to push back against the unrealistic expectation of perfection in medicine, reminding them that they’re humans.

BIO

Dr. Gita S. Pensa, M.D. is a speaker, educator, coach, and creator of Doctors and Litigation: The L Word. An associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Clinician Educator, and Associate Director of the Emergency Digital Health Innovation program at Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She is the editor/host of the Academic Emergency Medicine podcast series, AEM Early Access.

She podcasts and speaks nationally on litigation and litigation stress, and most recently won the 2019 Rhode Island ACEP chapter's Special Service Recognition Award for 'Courageous Public Advocacy of Rhode Island Emergency Medicine Colleagues.'

She is widely recognized as one of the nation's leading experts on malpractice litigation, stress, and physician litigation support. She gives practical and psychological preparation necessary for malpractice litigation defendants. She's been featured in forums such as Time Magazine, South by Southwest, NPR, and a new PBS documentary, A World of Hurt, How Medical Malpractice Fails Everyone. She helps good doctors manage the stressors of adverse events, litigation, and burnout.

Website: doctorsandlitigation.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gita-pensa-m-d-693557189

Twitter (X): https://x.com/GitaPensaMD

Doctors and Litigation: The L Word

Did you know…

You can also be a guest on our show? Please email me at brad@physiciansguidetodoctoring.com to connect or visit www.physiciansguidetodoctoring.com to learn more about the show!

Socials:

@physiciansguidetodoctoring on FB

@physicianguidetodoctoring on YouTube

@physiciansguide on Instagram and Twitter

Visit www.physiciansguidetodoctoring.com to connect, dive deeper, and keep the conversation going. Let’s grow!

Disclaimer:

This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional...

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About Succeed in Medicine

Was your training enough to handle everything physician life demands? From lawsuits to leadership, career decisions to challenging conversations, balancing the personal with the professional — not enough was addressed in medical school, residency or fellowship. This show fills those gaps so you can live up to the expectations that come with the white coat — not just in the exam room, but in all the places your MD follows you. Your host, Dr. Bradley Block, a private practice ENT, is right there with you — navigating the same challenges and bringing in world-class guests to teach, as he puts it, “everything we should have been learning while we were memorizing Kreb’s cycle.” With nearly 500 episodes and close to half a million downloads, Brad has built a trusted space where physicians come for brass-tacks, immediately-applicable advice. You don’t need another certification. You need a podcast that covers personal finance, private practice, side-gigs, main-gigs, reacting to bad reviews, misinformation, social media, charting, parenting, communicating, negotiating, leading, managing, teaching, learning and what to do when someone yells, “Is there a doctor on board?”

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About Succeed in Medicine

Was your training enough to handle everything physician life demands? From lawsuits to leadership, career decisions to challenging conversations, balancing the personal with the professional — not enough was addressed in medical school, residency or fellowship. This show fills those gaps so you can live up to the expectations that come with the white coat — not just in the exam room, but in all the places your MD follows you. Your host, Dr. Bradley Block, a private practice ENT, is right there with you — navigating the same challenges and bringing in world-class guests to teach, as he puts it, “everything we should have been learning while we were memorizing Kreb’s cycle.” With nearly 500 episodes and close to half a million downloads, Brad has built a trusted space where physicians come for brass-tacks, immediately-applicable advice. You don’t need another certification. You need a podcast that covers personal finance, private practice, side-gigs, main-gigs, reacting to bad reviews, misinformation, social media, charting, parenting, communicating, negotiating, leading, managing, teaching, learning and what to do when someone yells, “Is there a doctor on board?”

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Description

Looking to connect with a community of physician podcasters? We provide the tools, connections, and resources you need to amplify your voice and grow your audience. Be part of something exciting as we prepare to launch. Join the Doctor Podcast Network today!

—--------

In this episode, Dr. Gita Pensa advocates for physicians navigating the storm of malpractice lawsuits. She opens up about the emotional and psychological toll of physicians being sued. She shares her own journey through litigation and how it inspired her to help others facing similar struggles.

Dr. Pensa helps refine doctors' mindset during litigation, providing insightful guidelines to help defend themselves with confidence and clarity during depositions and trials.

She recommends two goals for everyone in deposition; one is to accept the situation. Letting go of the emotions rather than argue over reality. At best grief, but don’t suffer guilt. Secondly, that physicians be good defendants for themselves. She stresses that the physician’s overall objective is to get the jury into their thought process, since they are not medical practitioners themselves.

She believes that by supporting each other and advocating for systemic change, physicians can not only survive litigation but grow stronger through it. She also encourages doctors to push back against the unrealistic expectation of perfection in medicine, reminding them that they’re humans.

BIO

Dr. Gita S. Pensa, M.D. is a speaker, educator, coach, and creator of Doctors and Litigation: The L Word. An associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Clinician Educator, and Associate Director of the Emergency Digital Health Innovation program at Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She is the editor/host of the Academic Emergency Medicine podcast series, AEM Early Access.

She podcasts and speaks nationally on litigation and litigation stress, and most recently won the 2019 Rhode Island ACEP chapter's Special Service Recognition Award for 'Courageous Public Advocacy of Rhode Island Emergency Medicine Colleagues.'

She is widely recognized as one of the nation's leading experts on malpractice litigation, stress, and physician litigation support. She gives practical and psychological preparation necessary for malpractice litigation defendants. She's been featured in forums such as Time Magazine, South by Southwest, NPR, and a new PBS documentary, A World of Hurt, How Medical Malpractice Fails Everyone. She helps good doctors manage the stressors of adverse events, litigation, and burnout.

Website: doctorsandlitigation.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gita-pensa-m-d-693557189

Twitter (X): https://x.com/GitaPensaMD

Doctors and Litigation: The L Word

Did you know…

You can also be a guest on our show? Please email me at brad@physiciansguidetodoctoring.com to connect or visit www.physiciansguidetodoctoring.com to learn more about the show!

Socials:

@physiciansguidetodoctoring on FB

@physicianguidetodoctoring on YouTube

@physiciansguide on Instagram and Twitter

Visit www.physiciansguidetodoctoring.com to connect, dive deeper, and keep the conversation going. Let’s grow!

Disclaimer:

This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional...

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About Succeed in Medicine

Was your training enough to handle everything physician life demands? From lawsuits to leadership, career decisions to challenging conversations, balancing the personal with the professional — not enough was addressed in medical school, residency or fellowship. This show fills those gaps so you can live up to the expectations that come with the white coat — not just in the exam room, but in all the places your MD follows you. Your host, Dr. Bradley Block, a private practice ENT, is right there with you — navigating the same challenges and bringing in world-class guests to teach, as he puts it, “everything we should have been learning while we were memorizing Kreb’s cycle.” With nearly 500 episodes and close to half a million downloads, Brad has built a trusted space where physicians come for brass-tacks, immediately-applicable advice. You don’t need another certification. You need a podcast that covers personal finance, private practice, side-gigs, main-gigs, reacting to bad reviews, misinformation, social media, charting, parenting, communicating, negotiating, leading, managing, teaching, learning and what to do when someone yells, “Is there a doctor on board?”

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About Succeed in Medicine

Was your training enough to handle everything physician life demands? From lawsuits to leadership, career decisions to challenging conversations, balancing the personal with the professional — not enough was addressed in medical school, residency or fellowship. This show fills those gaps so you can live up to the expectations that come with the white coat — not just in the exam room, but in all the places your MD follows you. Your host, Dr. Bradley Block, a private practice ENT, is right there with you — navigating the same challenges and bringing in world-class guests to teach, as he puts it, “everything we should have been learning while we were memorizing Kreb’s cycle.” With nearly 500 episodes and close to half a million downloads, Brad has built a trusted space where physicians come for brass-tacks, immediately-applicable advice. You don’t need another certification. You need a podcast that covers personal finance, private practice, side-gigs, main-gigs, reacting to bad reviews, misinformation, social media, charting, parenting, communicating, negotiating, leading, managing, teaching, learning and what to do when someone yells, “Is there a doctor on board?”

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

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