- What is a Legal Nurse Consultant
?
- What does a Legal Nurse Consultant do ?
- What is the role of the Legal Nurse Consultant ?
- Why do I need a Legal Nurse Consultant ?
The legal nurse consultant is a licensed, registered nurse who performs a
critical analysis of clinical and administrative nursing practice, healthcare
facts and issues and their outcomes for the legal profession, healthcare
professions, consumers of healthcare and legal services, and others as
appropriate. With a strong educational and experiential foundation, the legal
nurse consultant is qualified to assess adherence to standards and guidelines of
healthcare practice as it applies to the nursing and healthcare professions.
- Acts as a liaison with attorneys, physicians and
clients
- Educates attorneys regarding medical facts and
issues relating to a case or claim
- Researches applicable literature and evidence to
determine the merits of a case
- Reviews and analyzes documents and compares them
to the allegations
- Summarizes medical literature
- Screens for record tampering
- Defines and evaluates the standards of care
practices
- Evaluates the possible breach of duty on the
part of the healthcare practitioner or facility
- Prepares witness and exhibit lists
- Interviews witnesses and involved parties
- Prepares persuasive graphic exhibits for trial
- Assesses issues of damage and causation
- Identifies and retains expert witnesses
- Assists in obtaining medical records and
identifying missing records
- Organizes medical records and other
medically-related litigation materials
- Prepares chronologies of medical events and
correlates them to the allegations
- Develops collaborative case strategies with
those practicing within the legal system
- Provides support during discovery, depositions,
trial and other legal proceedings
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The primary role of the legal nurse consultant is to
evaluate, analyze, and render informed opinions on the
delivery of health care and the resulting outcomes. For
nearly 20 years, legal nurse consultants have acted as
collaborators and strategists, offering support in
medically-related litigation and other medical-legal
matters in the variety of practice areas including the
following:
- Personal injury
- Product liability
- Medical malpractice
- Workers' compensation
- Toxic torts
- Risk management
- Medical licensure investigation
- Fraud and abuse, compliance
- Criminal law
- Elder law
- Other applicable cases
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According to the
American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants, an LNC provides many
benefits including the following:
EXPERIENCE - The LNC has a background of clinical
experience, which includes interpretation of medical records, documentation and
medical-legal issues.
COST-EFFECTIVENESS - Medical-legal cases can contain too
much information to be covered by inexperienced people in a timely fashion. The
LNC utilizes nursing background and knowledge of healthcare standards to
identify strengths and weaknesses of a case. Physicians are rarely as familiar
with the complexity of a medical record as a Registered Nurse. The fees charged
by an LNC are a fraction of the price Physicians charge. When you use an LNC you
get efficient, cost-effective, top quality medical case reviews.
RESOURCEFULNESS - The LNC possesses a network of medical
and professional resources and contacts.
KNOWLEDGE - The LNC has a thorough understanding of medical
issues and trends related to the total litigation process. This information is
custom-designed for the attorney, the client, and the jury.
OTHER BENEFITS - The LNC provides counsel with the nursing
and medical expertise needed to develop and implement a case-winning strategy.
Time is money! The services of an LNC for analysis and review
of cases to identify those that are non-meritorious saves counsel valuable time
and money. The LNC also lightens the load for your office.
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