For the past several years, registered nurses have been recognized as consultants to attorneys for matters of nursing, healthcare, and legal nurse services. Common duties for nurses in the legal space have been to serve as expert witnesses on cases, offering opinions, and testifying about the standard of care in medical malpractice cases. As medical malpractice litigation grew, so too did the bandwidth of nurses with oversight in the legal realm. Going as far back as the 80s, attorneys were desperately searching for resources to help them decipher medical records, medical literature, policies of hospitals, procedures, and client and expert testimony.
Attorneys and the judicial system began to appreciate the value of nurse consultant expertise, and in 1989, LNC’s (Legal Nurse Consultants) became a recognized title. As a provider of legal nurse consultants in Michigan, SPLNC & Associates, LLC understands the impact these professionals can have on legal cases. Today we will be going over why LNC’s are valuable in medical malpractice claims.
How Legal Nurse Services Have Changed The Landscape
As we’ve touched on in previous posts, The LNC is a licensed registered nurse who conducts critical analysis of clinical and administrative issues. LNC’s have dedicated their careers to acquire knowledge of the legal system. They are building upon their prior nursing education and healthcare experience, and while formal legal education is not a prerequisite, legal nurse consultants in Michigan will still acquire knowledge of the legal terminology, medical research, and a fundamental understanding of the law, in order to adhere to the core competencies of the job. Because of their extensive education and clinical experience, LNC’s are more than qualified to assess the standards of care in accordance with the nursing profession.
The Value Of Legal Nurses In Medical Malpractice Cases
The primary role of an LNC in medical malpractice cases is to evaluate, analyze, and create informed opinions on the facts that relate to the delivery of healthcare services and its outcomes. Legal Nurse Consultants can be used to facilitate communications with the attorney, in order to obtain resolutions between the involved parties. Their expertise is more important than you think! LNC’s will always educate attorneys on factual information that relates to healthcare and its influence in the medical malpractice case that they’re overseeing.
The consultant will also save the attorney a lot of time when dealing with medical records. LNC’s organize and review medical records, sorting them into chronological documents and making note of deviations from standard of care. The records will be easily accessible for defense experts and since the attorney didn’t need to retrieve the record themselves, their review of the applicable information will be much more focused. When the individual analysis of the medical records is complete, all the summaries will be compiled into a timeline. The timeline will help the attorney ascertain the development of the case. It details the medical treatment provided by the various providers and is arguably the single most important document that is prepared by the LNC. The timeline is helpful for formulating questions for the plaintiff’s depositions, plaintiff’s experts, defendants, defense experts, and the witnesses for the case. The role of an LNC is invaluable, and their expertise can be a force multiplier for your legal team. You can read more about the role here.
Boosting Your Success With Legal Nurse Consultants In Detroit Michigan
SPLNC & Associates, LLC specializes in coordinating with attorneys on subjects related to healthcare and medical records. To learn more about how we can help your legal team with medical malpractice claims, contact us today!