When a lawyer calls

That’s some bad advice. Typically, the first idea that a med mal case might be getting considered is a request for a patient’s records with a release signed by the patient and sent to you by the firm. There’s nothing to do but produce the record and notify your insurance carrier.

Under no circumstances do you ever, ever call the other side without an attorney in that situation.

If you do get a subpoena, there will be a case name at the top of it. If it’s a med mal case, call an attorney or your insurer to see if it’s covered. You are for some reason involved, but not a party at that point. Either way, don’t go wading in there like you have it all figured out.

Physicians know next to nothing about the law, as the comments on here illustrate regularly. If all you know is what your insurer told you during a tort reform battle, you don’t have 1% of 1% of the knowledge. Proceeding on your own would be like a lawyer performing heart surgery when the hospital is just down the street.

You’re a professional, your time has value. Spend it doing the things that maximize the value, and pay the other professionals for the things they do well.

Anonymous:

I never suggested that you should give information out to an opposing attorney. You are also assuming that the doctor knows who the attorney is and why they are serving you. You can’t know any of that without actually talking to them. Nowhere do I suggest that you handle the legal situation yourself.