Crisis Communications Tip #3: Define & Defend Your Boundaries

A local hospital is at the beginning of what promises to be a lengthy and costly resolution of a situation involving a prominent physician, many, many of his patients and now, legions of attorneys.

In fairness to the hospital, it is a complicated situation not easily explained and therefore not easily understood by most of us. Additionally, there are many points of view that will be played out in the media for the foreseeable future.

However, based on media coverage thus far, the hospital does not appear to be assertively defining the situation to one physician in one department utilizing one procedure.

If we were asked our opinion on what their crisis communications strategy should be, we would implore them to quickly and decisively place the situation in context of the hospital’s overall reputation. It should then implement an ongoing, focused communications program that defines and defends the institution’s expertise and reputation beyond the boundaries of the current situation, albeit a serious and far-reaching one.