The legal nurse consultant is a fully-trained nurse with years of hands-on experience working in the field. From that experience, she assembles the medical records in an attorney-friendly order, analyzes the case to find hidden facts and missing information as well as pertinent information to assist the attorney in preparing his overall case.

A work product is given the attorney-client that is organized for quick and easy reference during a court or settlement discussion. In addition, the certified legal nurse consultant prepares background information, graphics, definitions and other information with which to educate the attorney-client as necessary for his understanding of the medical aspects of the case.

A nurse is part of every action in the healthcare situation whereas specialists such as a physician, a radiologist, an anesthesiologist, and others work only within their own specialty. A nurse needs to know all of the Standards of Care affecting the patient as well as procedures of the institution.

A paralegal has been trained in legal procedures and usually has no medical training or clinical experience to draw upon. The certified legal nurse consultant is a healthcare professional by training and extensive experience who can find what is significant, what is missing, why something happened, etc. The certified legal nurse consultant can become your "medical detective" in analyzing your cases.

Hiring a paralegal without extensive medical training and years of hands-on medical work in a healthcare institution would be the same as hiring an English major to be your lawyer because he could read the law.

Certified means that an experienced nurse has taken additional training as a legal nurse consultant and then passed a comprehensive stringent national examination. Actually, any nurse can call herself a legal nurse consultant. Only those who have trained and been tested can be a certified legal nurse consultant.

We help attorneys with clients who believe that malpractice has been committed by healthcare providers. After the attorney has obtained the records, we review them and offer a screening opinion on the merits of the case. After the review, the attorney uses our services to investigate the records in detail in helping prepare the case and to locate expert witnesses.

The nurse is better able to read and interpret medical records than the typical attorney. Nurses are used to physician's handwriting, medical terminology and abbreviations. We can spot significant clinical information that may not be noticed by the attorney. We know where the problems occur and what may be missing from the record.

Location is not important because all of the work, in most cases, is done via overnight mail or the internet. Our own staff and consultants are located throughout the country.

No. However, we receive many calls from individuals who think they might have a malpractice case and have spoken to an attorney already. If they don't have an attorney, we direct the person to their state bar association or their state trial lawyers association.

Economics of screening a malpractice case suggest the physician or nurse who acts as an expert witness charges from $250 to $500 per hour to screen a case. Our hourly rate is much less. In addition, the CLNC has the specialized training on the four elements needed to win a malpractice case such as (a) duty to provide care, (b) breach of duty, (c) some type of injury, and (d) a deviation from a standard of care that caused injury to the patient.

A SOC holds a person of exceptional skill or knowledge to a duty of acting as would a reasonable and prudent person possessing the same or similar skills or knowledge under the same or similar circumstances. SOCs are the measuring tool for determining whether a healthcare practitioner was negligent.