New York State Department of Health, Chief Counsel, Bureau of Professional Medical Conduct
1979 - 1980:
New York State Department of Law, Assistant Attorney General, Education Bureau
1976 - 1979:
Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine
Executive Secretary
1973 - 1976:
Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Legal Assistant, Deputy General Counsel, Acting General Counsel
TEACHING
2005 - 2008:
Columbia Law School Mediation Clinic, Lecturer,
Spring semester
2002:
Columbia Law School Mediation Clinic, Lecturer,
Fall semester
MEDIATION TRAINER
2013 - 2018:
Quest for Success, NY Presbyterian Hospital, “Disclosure & Second Victims”, Senior Residents
2015 - 2017:
Advanced Training in Health Care Mediation, American Arbitration Association
2014 - 2017:
Communication and Disclosure Training, Mount Sinai Health System, New York, NY
2013:
Negotiating and Mediating Health Care Disputes, American Arbitration Association
2012, 2013, 2014:
Basic Mediation in Healthcare Training, Sarah Lawrence College, Health Advocacy Program
“Introduction to Conflict Management: Negotiation Skills in Medical Practice”, College of Physicians & Surgeons Columbia University, third-year medical students
2012:
Advanced Mediation Training for Mediating Medical Malpractice Lawsuits, American Health Lawyers Association
2011:
Mediation Skills for Bioethics, New York University Langone Medical Center
2010:
Mediation Skills Training, Risk Management, Langone NYU Medical Center
2005 - 2010:
Communicating about Medical Error and Adverse Events:
Introductory Training, Greater New York Hospital Association
2002 - 2018:
Certificate Program in Bioethics and the
Medical Humanities, Montefiore-Einstein Center for Bioethics
2000 - present:
Association of the Bar of the City of
New York, Basic and Advanced Training Courses Coaching
2000:
Office of the NYS Attorney General, Mediation workshop
1999, 2001, 2005:
Sarah Lawrence College Health
Advocacy Program, Mediation workshop
1999:
Continuum Health Partners, Inc., Introduction to Mediation
1998:
IPRO pilot project to mediate Medicare
quality of care disputes
PRESENTATIONS
June 2012:
New York City Bar Association, “A Mediation Career: Moving Forward to the Next Level”, co-presenter
May 2011:
NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation 2nd Annual Corser Symposium, Apology and Disclosure, co-presenter
February 2011:
Harlem Hospital Center, “Disclosure and Mediation: Alternatives to Litigation”, presenter
February 2011:
Woodhull Medical & Mental Health Center, “Disclosure and Mediation: Alternatives to Litigation”, presenter
November 2010:
Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU, “Disclosure and Mediation: Alternatives to Litigation”, presenter
November 2010:
ACR Health Care Section Teleseminar, “Mediating Medical Malpractice Lawsuits: Plaintiff and Physician Participation” presenter
October 2010:
New York City Bar, “Does Apology Play a Role in
Resolving Medical Errors and Adverse Events?”, moderator
March 2010:
Montefiore Medical Center, Patient Safety Awareness
Panel, panelist
November 2009:
Cardozo Law School, 11th Annual Symposium, “Mediating Medical Malpractice Lawsuits: The Patient Safety Case”, presenter
June 2009:
Connecticut Bar Association, Annual Meeting, “An ADR
Professional’s Guide: Health Care Industry Cultural Differences and Regulatory ADR Framework”, co-
presenter
April 2009:
ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, 11th Annual Spring
Conference, “Mediating Suits Against Hospitals: A
Research Report”, co-presenter
November 2008:
Hackensack University Medical Center, “Disclosure
Communication Skills Training”, co-presenter
October 2008:
Department of Surgery, Westchester Medical Center,
“Communication of Unanticipated Outcomes, Adverse
Events, and Medical Errors”, co-presenter
September 2008:
The Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University,
“Disclosure Policy vs Program”, presenter
June 2008:
Ethics Committee, Montefiore Medical Center, “Apology and Disclosure”, presenter
Greater New York Hospital Assoc., “Mediation”, presenter
March 2007:
Grand Rounds, Neurology Department, New York Medical College, “How to Give Bad News: Effective
Communication”, presenter
NY Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia, Department of Surgery, “Mediation of Medical Malpractice Lawsuits”, presenter
February 2007:
ABA Annual Conference on Emerging Issues in Healthcare
Law, “Mediation Skills in Healthcare: Resolving
Disputes of Unanticipated Outcomes”, co-presenter
December 2006:
Grand Rounds, Metropolitan Hospital, NYC, “Effective
Communication of Bad Results to Patients”, presenter
ACR Teleseminar, “Mediating Medical Malpractice
Lawsuits”, presenter
June 2006:
ABA Teleconference, “Disclosing Adverse Events and
Medical Error”, co-presenter
May 2006:
New York City Health & Hospitals Corporation, Ethics Conference, presenter
New York City Bar Association, “Medical Malpractice Study of NYC Operated Hospitals”, presenter
March 2006:
New York County Lawyers' Association, “Medical Malpractice Mediation Study of NYC Operated Hospitals”, co-presenter
February 2006:
ABA Annual Conference on Emerging Issues in Healthcare
Law, “Disclosure of Adverse Events and Medical Error”, co-presenter
September 2005:
Annual Conference of the Association for Conflict
Resolution, “Prescription for Mediation in Health
Care: Use As Needed”, co-presenter
August 2005:
National Conference of State Legislatures, “Medical
Liability: Finding Common Ground Through
Disclosure, Apology, and Mediation”, co-presenter
April 2005:
ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, 7th Annual Spring
Conference, “Medical Malpractice Mediation Study for
New York City Operated Hospitals”, co-presenter
March 2005:
Grand Rounds, Abington Memorial Hospital, Abington, PA
February 2005:
Georgia State University Law Review Symposium,
“Communicating After a Medical Error”, presenter
September 2004 :
Annual Conference of the Association for Conflict
Resolution, “Health Care Disputes and the Canon of
Negotiation”, presenter
June 2004:
Annual Research Meeting of AcademyHealth, “The
Medical Malpractice Crisis as a Health Policy
Problem”, presenter
April 2004:
Conference on Medical Error Communication and Dispute
Resolution, Project on Medical Liability in Pennsylvania, Demonstration Mediation and ADR Project, Co-organizer of the conference and moderator of panel, “Mediation of Medical Malpractice Claims”
“Mediation
of Medical Malpractice Claims,” moderator
ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, 6th Annual Spring
Conference, “Skills and Techniques Used in Mediation and Conflict Management in Hospitals”, co-presenter
CIVIC ACTIVITIES
2015-present:
The Writing Revolution, Inc. New York NY, Director, Vice Chair
2003 - present:
Fund for Public Health in New York, Inc. New York, NY, Director, Secretary
2002 - present:
Women In Need, Inc. New York, NY, Director, Co-Chair 2017-2019
1999 - present:
Citizens’ Committee for Children of New York Inc.
Director, President 2010-2012, Chair 2012-2014
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
March 30 - April 2, 2010:
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Medical Liability Reform and Patient Safety Demonstration Projects (R18), Special Emphasis Panel and
Planning Grants (R21), Special Emphasis Panel
1990 - present:
New York City Bar Association
Chair, Committee on Bioethical Issues (1995-1998)
Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution
(1998-2001, 2009-2012, Chair 2012-2015)
Committee on Health Law (2001-2004)
1990 - 2019:
New York State Bar Association
Health Law Section (2000 - present)
Dispute Resolution Section (2008 - present)
1998 - 2019:
American Bar Association
Section on Dispute Resolution
PUBLICATIONS
C.S. Hyman, “Mediation and Medical Malpractice: Why Plaintiffs, Hospitals and Physicians Should Be at the Table,” Dispute Resolution Journal 66, no. 3 (August-October 2011): 32-37
C.S. Hyman, C.B. Liebman, C.B. Schechter and W.M.
Sage, “Interest-Based Mediation of Medical Malpractice
Lawsuits: A Route to Improved Patient Safety?” Journal
of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 35, no.5 (Oct. 2010): 797-828.
C.S. Hyman and C.B. Liebman, “Mediating Medical
Malpractice Lawsuits: The Need for Plaintiff and
Physician Participation,” Dispute Resolution Magazine, 16, no.3 (Spring 2010): 6-9.
A. Hawkins, C.S. Hyman and C. Honeyman, “Negotiating
Access” in The Negotiator’s Fieldbook, ed. A.K.
Schneider and C. Honeyman (Washington, DC:
American Bar Assoc. 2006): 133-142.
C.B. Liebman and C.S. Hyman, “Disclosure and Fair
Resolution of Adverse Events” in Medical Malpractice
And the U.S. Health Care System, ed. W.M. Sage and
R. Kersh (New York: Cambridge University Press 2006), 191-215.
C.S. Hyman and C.B. Schechter, “Mediating Medical
Malpractice Lawsuits Against Hospitals: New York City’s Pilot Project,” Health Affairs, 25, no. 5 (2006):
1394-1399.
C.B. Liebman and C.S. Hyman, “A Mediation Skills Model to Manage
Disclosure of Errors and Adverse Events to Patients,” Health Affairs,
23, no.4 (2004): 22-32.
C.S. Hyman, “Conflict Resolution and Elder Care: A
Snapshot of Where Mediation Is Being Used and
Why,” ADR Report, 5 (2001): 5-8.
C.S. Hyman, “An Idea Whose Time Has Come: ADR and
Healthcare Disputes,” NYSBA Health Law Journal, 6
(2001):16-18.
C.S. Hyman, “State Medical Boards and Pain
Management” Ethics Rounds, Journal of Pain and
Symptom Management, 15 (1998): 379-381.
C.S. Hyman, “Pain Management and Disciplinary Action:
How Medical Boards Can Remove Barriers to
Effective Treatment,” Journal of Law, Medicine &
Ethics, 24 (1996):338-43.
BAR ADMISSIONS
1979 1974
New York
Massachusetts
EDUCATION
1973
Brooklyn Law School, J.D.
1968
University of Chicago, B.A.
When I learned that mediation encourages people in a dispute to decide how they would like to resolve their disagreement rather than having someone else, often a judge or an arbitrator, tell them how it was going to end, I became a mediator. Invariably, the disputants themselves know what result will work best for them. Mediation may not be the right process for each case, but it should be considered in every case.
Having been a litigator, I have seen the frustrations of lawyers, their clients, and judges with that process: delays, combativeness, and the extraordinary amount of time it takes to reach a final resolution. Mediation is less complicated, more efficient, often more satisfying for the parties, and less expensive.
For example, as a health care attorney I’m particularly impressed by mediation’s potential to gather at the table all the people necessary to resolve a medical malpractice lawsuit: the patient or family member, a physician familiar with the medical events of the case, a hospital representative, the insurers, and the lawyers. By facilitating discussions among them about the facts, issues, and questions raised in the lawsuit, the mediator can help them share information, brainstorm about their options, and try to shape a mutually acceptable resolution. Often the resolution contains not only an amount of money but also a non-monetary provision that has particular meaning for the participants, such as a memorial lecture, a video about the events that occurred, or additional training for staff. It is this combination of resolving a lawsuit, improving patient care and enabling emotional healing that appeals to me as a mediator.
In addition to health care disputes, I also have mediated a wide variety of cases including commercial, real estate, landlord/tenant, and insurance matters.
From left: Chris Stern Hyman, Chair of the City Bar's Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee; former Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye; Carol Liebman, Clinical Professor at Columbia Law School, inaugural Chair of the City Bar's Special Committee on ADR.
May 8, 2014
