This 2-Minute Monday Personal Injury Healthcare Mindset is about the type of attorney you will most likely deal with when it comes time to be paid.
PI Attorneys are Trained Narcissistic Assertives
Personal injury attorneys aren’t just trained advocates. They’re trained narcissistic assertives.
And I don’t say that as an insult. I say it as a reality. Winning is their primary motivation.
That’s how they’re educated. That’s how they’re rewarded.
There’s an old joke that explains it perfectly:
If the law is against them, they pound on the facts.
If the facts are against them, they pound on the law.
And if both the law and the facts are against them – well, they pound on the table!
And in personal injury, there is a lot of saber rattling and table pounding.
When it comes to healthcare providers it’s aimed at one thing: reducing what you get paid.
Sometimes it’s done professionally, sometimes it’s done politely, but far too often, it’s delivered in the natural style of the beast you’re dealing with:
A trained narcissistic assertive wants control and victory at all costs. Them winning, and you losing.
PI attorneys see you, the healer, as easy prey. Don’t get fooled by the notion they are out for a “win-win”. They aren’t. it’s one way, or the highway, and back to saber rattling and table pounding.
I know because I was trained as one. I was one. And when I’m not careful and not self-aware, I still am one.
Now, after years of negotiating against PI attorneys on behalf of healthcare providers, and teaching doctors and staff how to out-negotiate law firms, I’ve learned something most miss. In PI, the provider often holds far more leverage in this game of business poker than they realize.
Providers just don’t know which cards matter, or how to play them.
This isn’t about being liked. Being liked makes you someone to take advantage of because of your need to be liked. You get slotted to them as a replaceable vendor who they don’t want to put before a not-so-nice defense attorney.
It’s about being respected, not liked, that gets you used more, and paid more. Because you can hold your own, and do it as a professional with calm and confidence.
So don’t be intimidated by the saber rattling and all the table pounding.
Understand the psychology. Control what matters – the negotiation process. And learn how to ID and assert strategically leverage over lawyers.
That’s foundational in the negotiations method that I teach.
Do that, and you win professionally, profitably and with respect – even in the constant pushback world of PI. And even when dealing with trained narcissistic assertives.
