Why hire a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant?

Moral of this story…..avoid costly mistakes, hire a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant!

This is a prime example of why attorneys need a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant to review all medical records instead of relying upon their office staff assessment.

As a CLNC we are nursing specialists interpreting complex medical records for both plaintiff and defense attorney litigation. Of utmost importance to an attorney client, is our role in educating attorneys as to the medical facts in the case. It is also of utmost importance that we accurately and efficiently screen cases for merit.

Not all attorneys are aware that they need Legal Nurse Consultant services in their practice. This fact brings to light another important side to our role in educating an attorney client. Many have office staff or at times other attorneys in their office interpreting medical records and doing the crucial research and applying it to the case. In my opinion this can be a costly mistake.

The CLNC Difference

A recent interaction with a Personal Injury attorney revealed that he did not need my services because his “very competent and talented office staff who have personal injury experience could do the same job at a fraction of my fee”. He shared that his paralegal had already worked up the case and completed her summary.

I knew I had to show him the difference in how that decision would make or break the case. It seemed he was having second thoughts. He began to discuss this current auto accident case and agreed to a “just to prove you wrong” screening. I accept that challenge!!

He handed me the paralegals work product. I declined it explaining that I would screen and analyze the case from an unbiased viewpoint. I would be happy to review it after I completed my screening. He also agreed that if my screen came out to agree with his paralegal there would be no charge. How could he refuse that risk free guarantee?

The Injury Claim

The plaintiff complaint was a disabling knee injury and multiple painful rib fractures. In reviewing the ER record, the presenting plaintiff complaint in the triage note was “I broke my ribs in a car accident and messed up my knee”.

The patient had xrays of the right knee which showed a soft tissue injury, swelling and bruising of the knee but no acute fractures. The ED MD notes documented a splint was applied to the right bruised knee.

The xray impression of the chest and thoracic area showed: no acute rib fractures.

The True Cause of the Injury

In my further review of the electronic medical record office notes, there were older previous visits to an orthopedic specialist that detailed treatment for a torn meniscus suffered from a previous running mishap. This patient had a pre-existing knee injury clearly documented in earlier outpatient office notes.

The final discharge note from that earlier EC MD visit when the plaintiff had originally reported to the EC with the knee injury status post the running mishap, said, “Patient will be discharged with splint in place, right knee, to follow up with Orthopedic Surgery for torn medial meniscus.”

Avoiding a Non-Meritorious Case

The paralegal is crucial to the legal process for the attorney’s case. To analyze the medical aspects of the case requires a nurse to be able to understand the language and to know what to look for and to be able to see what is missing in a case.

The paralegal had not known to review previous history in past medical records that revealed a pre-existing knee injury. She also misunderstood vital medical documentation and medical abbreviations when reviewing the chest xray report and thought that the plaintiff did have acute rib fractures. He did not.

Moral of this story…..avoid costly mistakes, hire a Certified Nurse Consultant!