Why Doctors should get Emotional Intelligence Coaching

"People just don't sue doctors they like," said leading medical malpractice lawyer Alice Burkin. She continues:

"In all the years I've been in this business, I've never had a potential client walk in and say, 'I really like this doctor, and I feel terrible about doing it, but I want to sue him.' We've had people come in saying they want to sue some specialist, and we'll say, 'We don't think that doctor was negligent. We think it's your primary care doctor who was at fault.' And the client will say, 'I don't care what she did. I love her, and I'm not suing her.'

This was quoted in "Blink," which is about intuition, gut feeling, "social skills," etc. Burkin states litigious client as saying things like -- "She never looked at me as a whole person," and the doctor didn't treat the person "like a human being."

In further research, Wendy Levinson found that never-sued surgeons had spent more than 3 mins. longer with each patient -- 18.3 v. 15 mins.

Doctors who had never been sued also did these things - all realted to high Emotional Intelligence (EQ) which can be learned:

--The never-sued doctors made "orienting comments" like telling the patient he/she would allow time for question
--Engaged in active listening
--Doctors who got sued had voices that sounded "dominant", not warm
--Their tone of voice communicated respect and a dominant tone of voice is "corrosive" and gets the doctor sued

"Blink" author Malcolm Gladwell says when you visit a doctor and sense he "isn't listening to you, that he's talking down to you, and that he isn't treating you with respect, listen to that feeling.

That feeling is your INTUITION. It's your surest guide.

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) coaching -- with practical examples and exercises -- can help you hone your intuition. It may help you keep from being sued, if you're a doctor. It can help all your relationships, and there is always room for improvement. Take an EQ assessment, get coaching. It can also be crucial to your HEALTH, since, as Candace Pert showed, our emotions live in every cell of our body. 5 minutes of anger can suppress your immune system for up to 8 hours.