JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP In the movie There Will be Blood, character Henry Brands says, “That part of me is gone…working and not succeeding—all my failures has [sic] left me….I just don’t… care.” At the end, after the struggles, “I don’t care” is a common aphorism of the wanton entrepreneur. Maybe it is uttered during the futile death throes of the dying business. Or, maybe after leaving the bank president’s office. I suppose …
Read MoreThe “O-Ring” in Medical Malpractice Cases
JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP The moment is forever etched in my mind. It occurred while I was in my fourth year of medical school during a radiology rotation in Scottsdale, AZ. I was doing everything I could not to fall asleep while sitting in the dark film-reading room, listening to a tonally flat radiologist dictate plain film reports. I got up to splash some cold water on my face and as I was …
Read MoreWhat the Gray Haired Never Shared
JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP For some reason, it is likely that no one with gray hair ever sat you down and shared with you some secrets to longevity, productivity, and career success in medicine. Why we in medicine tend to “eat our young” remains a mystery to me. If you have seen the movie 300 or read the book Gates of Fire, you understand that we tend to act very “Spartan-like.” I am …
Read MoreInsulating Your Practice from Sexual Harassment Claims
JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law describes sexual harassment as a form of employment discrimination consisting of unwelcome verbal or physical conduct directed at an employee because of his or her sex. Quid pro quo sexual harassment occurs when a condition of future or current employment is predicated upon fulfilling sexual demands. Finally, hostile environment sexual harassment occurs when the harassment has the effect of interfering with the victim’s work performance …
Read MoreIn Consideration of Binding Arbitration Agreements
JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP Otter: Point of parliamentary procedure! Hoover: Don’t screw around, they’re serious this time! Otter: Take it easy, I’m pre-law. Boon: I thought you were pre-med. Otter: What’s the difference? Otter: Ladies and gentlemen, I’ll be brief. The issue here is not whether we broke a few rules, or took a few liberties with our female party guests—we did. In contrast to the dispute resolution procedure regarding the Delta house’s …
Read MoreCompliant Management of Non-Compliant Staff
JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP Are you from the era where Spare the Rod, Spoil the Employee was the title of the disciplinary section in the employee manual? Most urgent care centers in the United States discontinued the practice of caning employees after Michael Fay received his licks for vandalizing cars in Singapore in 1994. Now-a-days, you may want to consider following a few simple rules when it comes to employee remediation (as opposed …
Read MoreWhen Urgent Care is the Safest Place to Turn
JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP In retrospect, it was bound to happen: An estranged husband received information from his insurance company about his wife’s outpatient treatment. He called the patient accounting office to confirm the residential address his wife gave to the registration clerk. He thanked the woman who supplied him with the information profusely, then got in his car and drove to the domestic violence shelter where his wife was recovering from the …
Read MoreHiring an Employee
JOHN SHUFELDT, MD, JD, MBA, FACEP Let’s be honest, we have all done it: hired someone who, in retrospect, had only two brain cells, both of which turned out to be mutually inhibitory. Have I told you about the time (many years ago) when I hired a provider who, on a busy day, locked himself in the bathroom and screamed, “If you don’t get me some more help, I am going to start drinking?” Since …
Read MoreEmployment Contracts Part 2: Troublesome Clauses
Congratulations, you have found the perfect job! The chemistry is right, the pay is adequate, and the working environment is somewhat better than a sweatshop. So what’s missing? Ah yes, the contract—that little document designed to protect both parties in the event of a disagreement. Although that description sounds innocuous, employment contracts are usually written by employers and tend to be slanted to their needs, as opposed to those of the employee or contractor. Therefore, …
Read MoreTest the Waters Before Signing an Employment Contract
It sounded like a great job. You saw the ad in the back of JUCM and contacted the person listed at the bottom. He seemed pleasant enough on the phone and the pay was what you thought was the market rate for the area. The next day, you drove over for the interview, which consisted of only four questions (the first being “If you were a tree…” and the last being “When can you start?”), toured …
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