ACEP ID:

Medical-Legal Resources

Section I: Medical Liability Litigation

Prevention and Protection: Risk Management Strategies and Liability Insurance

None of us want to be sued. While it is an all too common occurrence in the practice of high-risk specialties like emergency medicine, there are steps you can take to mitigate your risk of being sued. This section includes information on how to avoid getting sued, the components of a risk management program and everything you wanted to know about medical liability insurance.

Preparation and Support: Once You’ve Been Sued, Now What?

Once you are named in a liability lawsuit, the resources in this section can help you prepare for a deposition and trial, and understand what all you can expect throughout the process. There is also a listing of resources to help you cope with litigation stress.

Expert Witnesses: Qualifications and Accountability

Given the weight that judges and juries often give to the testimony of expert witnesses, it is imperative that all such testimony in medical liability cases should be credible, fair and accurate. ACEP has policy detailing the appropriate qualifications and actions of an expert witness in cases involving emergency medicine. Additionally, to help ensure that expert witnesses are reminded of the seriousness of their obligations to provide accurate testimony, ACEP has also developed an expert witness reaffirmation form, that ACEP members giving expert testimony can be asked to sign beforehand, attesting that they will be abide by ACEP’s expert witness testimony policy.

Victimized by Erroneous or Egregious Expert Witness Testimony?

What can you do If you believe an expert witness provided erroneous or egregious testimony against you in a recent liability suit? There are steps you can take through ACEP to have testimony reviewed for accuracy, with erroneous testimony brought to the attention of the membership, or, if the expert witness is an ACEP member, you can consider filing an ethics complaint against the expert for providing egregious testimony.

ACEP’s Standard of Care Review process can provide an anonymous review and report on potentially egregious expert witness testimony.

**Review Standard of Care Review Panel Reports on Specific Cases.

Ethical violation charges can be brought against fellow ACEP members for allegedly providing egregious expert witness testimony.


Section II. EMTALA

Webinar Series

Members of ACEP’s Medical-Legal Committee developed and presented a series of webinars in 2020-2021 to educate emergency physicians on requirements and implications of EMTALA. The free webinar series can be accessed here.


Section III: Employment Contract Resources

Key Considerations in an Emergency Medicine Employment Contract

What to Look for in a Personal Service Employment Contract (video)

Indemnification Clauses in EM Contracts

Fairness Issues and Due Process Considerations in Various Emergency Physician Relationships

Contract Review and Other Legal Services Directory


Section IV. Other ACEP Medical-Legal Resources

Medical-Legal Issues with Advanced Practice Providers

A Medical-Legal Field Guide to Challenges and Opportunities in Medical Imaging, EHRs and Social Media

Sham Peer Review

Contract Primer


Section V. Additional ACEP Medical-Legal Policy Statements

Anonymous Affidavits of Merit

Anonymous Complaints to State Licensing Boards by Third Parties

Anonymous Expert Physician Testimony for a State Medical Licensing Board

College Board Member and Officer Expert Testimony

Expert Witness Guidelines for the Specialty of Emergency Medicine

Good Samaritan Protection

Health Courts

Law Enforcement Information Gathering in the Emergency Department

Medical Practice Review and the Practice of Medicine

Reform of Tort Law

Responsibility for Admitted Patients

State Medical Board Peer Review

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