That's what I was saying to my clients as they were walking me through a very sad case that ended with the death of what was supposed to be this family's first bouncing baby boy. I have a strong and advanced background in clinical nursing and yet my eyes were glazing over with all the Power Points nitpicking the plethora of possible nuances in the fetal monitor strip readings. If this was how I felt pre-focus group research, how would the participants react?
Simply speaking a fetal monitor strip is, in the immortal words of trial lawyer Russ Herman, "It's the baby talkin'." The fetal monitor calculates and records the fetal heart rate on a strip of paper which can be interpreted to learn how the fetal heart is responding to stress while in the mother's womb. Most often the fetal heart monitor is used during the mother's labor. And it really is the closest thing to "the baby talkin'."
Here's the bones of the story: a mother with no pre-natal issues comes to the hospital in labor to give birth to her first child. Her doctor is at home "chilaxin" as the kids say now. The fetal monitor strips show the ObGyn floor nurses that the fetus is having some difficulty. Calls are made to the doctor. Calls are recorded in the medical record. The fetal monitor strips continue to show that the fetus is distressed. Nothing gets done. By the time the proverbial stuff hits the fan it is too late and the baby is born dead.
What do you do? You simplify the story. Get away from being mired in the science. Let the opposition obscure and obfuscate with arguments about who knew what and when according to what might be interpreted on the fetal monitor strip.
There were only four difficulties this fetus could be having: sleeping; cord around the neck; placenta previa; or an abruption. There were very simple steps that could have been taken to detect which one of the four was going on and what to do about it. The nurses did not ask for direction nor did the doctor provide it.
The story we presented to the focus group research participants was one they could understand, relate to and decide. The malpractice issue was presented as four possible options ordered from worst to least. Each option had a simple, single choice to exercise to determine if this was the stressor or not. Each choice was linked to the healthcare provider who could carry it out and save the baby.
The fetal monitor strips played a part - as the voice of the baby talkin' which the nurses had detected. But rather than make the science the focus of the story, it became about choices that could have been made, that should have been made and were not made.
The case was settled - and very well settled - the day before trial.
TIP: Know the science of your case.
TIP: Simplify the science in your case.
TIP: Tell a story that respects the science but is not lost in the science.
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