The Penn State community is invited to register for “Treating Medical Errors” on Wednesday, Feb. 20 at Penn State Law. This interdisciplinary event features pediatric medical residents from Penn State’s Milton S. Hershey Children’s Hospital and students from the Law School.
Together, law students and medical residents will work through a moot medical malpractice trial with pediatricians being both witnesses in the case and consultants to their legal teams. The morning session, which begins at 8:30 a.m., consists of an abbreviated civil trial centered on the facts of the moot case. Over lunch all attendees and participants will “deliberate.” An interdisciplinary discussion on the merits of the case, the structure of the legal system, and the practice of law and medicine will follow in the afternoon. The event is organized by Penn State Law professor Gary Gildin and Dr. Steven J. Wassner, professor of pediatrics at the Penn State College of Medicine and chief of pediatric nephrology and hypertension at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital. Dr. Wassner headed the residency program for 17 years and now leads initiatives to reduce medical errors.
“In my experience the post-trial discussion is fantastic. I am always left with the impression that doctors and lawyers really should spend more time with each other outside of a courtroom. On the law side, we get a taste of how complex and fast-paced the practice of medicine is, and doctors get a sense of the way lawyers think and how the legal system works,” said Professor Gildin, who specializes in teaching trial advocacy and, next month, will host a CLE seminar on courtroom advocacy and the art of filmmaking.
Registration is requested by 5 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 18.