I recently brought an idea into a quarterly all-day executive meeting fully expecting us to spend substantial time discussing it. We did, but not in the way I expected. That one idea stimulated a discussion that took the entire meeting and led us into a completely different direction. By the end of the day, we landed on a new and improved idea, one that was much better than my original.

The kind of springboarding that happened that day rarely happens when we are communicating via email, which we certainly do a lot of here in my office. Call me old fashioned, but in my opinion only the dialog that happens when people sit around the table together and springboard ideas off one another stimulates this level of idea generation.

The same applies to you and your attorney-clients. Email works for the majority of your routine communications, but when was the last time you sat around the table with your attorney-clients and had a deep discussion about a case? Try it on your next significant case after your attorney-client has had the opportunity to review your report. I promise you will challenge, stimulate and surprise each other. Not to mention that you’ll take that case analysis to a much higher level. If you’re not springboarding with your attorney-clients regularly, it’s time to start now.

Success Is Inside!

One of the most important principles I have learned from consulting with attorneys is to anticipate the opposing side’s arguments and positions. I also learned this analysis strategy in law school. On final exams, my grades depended upon my ability to argue both sides of every case even when I didn’t like my own arguments.

Successful Certified Legal Nurse Consultants incorporate this same type of critical thinking into their case analyses and business decisions. When I mentor beginning Certified Legal Nurse Consultants, I often caution them to avoid believing their opinions in a case are bulletproof, meaning they discount any counterarguments. When a legal nurse consultant loses objectivity, her ability to analyze the case is flawed and weakened. No position is bulletproof, as the unfortunate Casey Anthony case proved. There is nothing wrong with having strong opinions, but the danger in the bulletproof mentality is that it doesn’t respond well to the inevitable volley of silver bullets.

How does a CLNC^® consultant avoid the bulletproof mentality? Easy; never think that your position is unassailable and always look at the other side’s possible arguments, no matter how ridiculous they might seem on the surface.

Certified Legal Nurse Consultant, Dale Barnes shared her experience of the bulletproof mentality and how she handled the consequences with her attorney-client:

“Early in my career as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant, I researched a case and concluded it was meritorious. Well into the case, what I thought was impossible occurred. The plaintiff started to improve, and the damages started to disappear before our eyes. The case was not as tragic and not quite as slam-dunk as I had led my attorney-client and myself to believe.

Once I overcame my embarrassment, I immediately confronted the issue and was honest with my attorney-client. He was obviously not happy. Based on my opinion, he had invested a lot of his own money into the case. I told him that I had not foreseen a recovery and that I would assist him in developing a new strategy. We altered our strategy for damages by focusing strictly on the losses during the shorter time the plaintiff had been affected. The strategy worked and the case was resolved.

My attorney-client shared that because I was honest with him about what I should have done differently and because I tried to help him resolve the dilemma, he was able to trust me, and to this day we still work together.”

Dale Barnes, RN, MSN, CLNC

Next time you’re working on a case for your attorney-clients and you get that “eureka” moment where you feel you’ve reached an unassailable position, stop and think again. You owe it to yourself and to your attorney-clients to not only keep your objectivity, but to also put it to good use by looking for the other side’s silver bullet. Successful Certified Legal Nurse Consultants know that it’s when you feel most bulletproof that you’re really not.

Success Is Inside!

My favorite vacations include hiking. The more remote the trail, the more I enjoy the experience. While I don’t mind seeing people, I much prefer to share the trail with wildlife than “wild life.” Being in the woods recalibrates all of my senses and rebalances me.

I’m not the fastest hiker and I’m probably not the slowest either. But a common question I get when I share a hiking experience is “How many miles did you hike each day?” as though my answer could give them any insight into the experience. Like most sports, the time or distance alone tells an incomplete story. The experience is also about the intensity which is influenced by high altitude, elevation gains, trail conditions and even the weather.

Walking in my home town of Houston poses little challenge and because it’s so flat I can’t even call a 6-mile walk a hike. That makes it easy to walk but presents challenges when I’m trying to train for a real hiking trip. Over the years I’ve hiked in all sorts of conditions. The coldest hike (snow-shoeing really) was in sub-zero temperatures in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park and the hottest hike was across a lava field in Hawaii’s Volcano National Park. The worst conditions I’ve encountered were in the Torres del Paine mountains of Patagonia, crossing a long section of loose scree along a precipice during a cold and driving rainstorm and the scariest were in a grizzly bear-filled section of thick forest in Alaska (I let Tom carry the food pack on that hike). I enjoyed every one of these trips – especially after I was back at the lodge with a healthy glass of red wine in my hand.

The toughest and most intense hiking I’ve done was in Nepal. There, in the beautiful Himalayan mountains, I encountered not only long distances (one day I hiked 12 hours, not counting breaks), but also large altitude changes (I live at sea level) and thousands of stone steps. I couldn’t even tell you the distance I covered – I don’t remember, only the intensity of the experience remains.

When hiking, the intensity presents itself to you if you let it. The more intense the conditions, the stronger your body becomes. Over time you’re not only able to cope with the intensity but you miss it when it’s not there for you, like I do when I’m back home in Houston.

Intensity is easy to find when we’re in the woods or mountains. But what about when you’re in your office working on your CLNC^® business?

When you’re analyzing a medical-related case you have to create the intensity and the challenge. You have to consciously go deeper and faster, challenge your own assumptions and produce a work product that is richer than the last. The next time you sit down to work on a case, don’t ask yourself how many hours you worked, ask how intensely you worked. Your output is directly influenced by the answer you’ll be able to give to that question. I’ve often wished I could bill by the intensity, not the hour. What about you?

Success Is Inside!

On a trip to Dallas, Tom and I decided to splurge and take a rare dive into the breakfast buffet. We had a long day ahead of us and figured we’d at least have a good meal to start us off. I’m not normally a fan of buffets, but it was included in our room package so I figured what-the-hey – I can eat as little or as much as I want.

The chef was making omelets to order and I went to town. A little garlic and herbs, some chopped bell pepper, cilantro, onions, jalapenos, mushrooms, maybe a little more garlic, and once the masterpiece was complete, I had the chef finish it off with cheddar cheese inside and sprinkled on top after it was “folded.”  I’ll let you in on my secret to perfect omelets: I have the chef sauté the ingredients for a few minutes before he folds them into the eggs – you get a much richer taste that way. I can easily pass on all the waffles and sweet stuff that people enjoy on breakfast buffets, but I do love my omelets.

That morning, Tom and I were getting ours made at the same time.  I told the chef that I wanted a smaller omelet than Tom’s. When I came back to pick it up, ours were exactly the same size! Tasty, but much more than I wanted.

As a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant, are you serving your attorney-clients the same size omelets? Sure the ingredients will be different from case to case, but attorneys come in all shapes and sizes. Don’t be a robo-chef. You might be mixing together different ingredients into your legal nurse consulting work product and think you’re giving each attorney-client something unique, but if you’re using that chef’s one-size-fits-all philosophy and treating all your clients as if they want the same size omelet, you are the one who is missing out.

Make sure that as a CLNC^® consultant you’re really giving each attorney-client the dish they’ve ordered, not just the one you want to prepare. That’s how you’ll keep them happy.

Success Is Inside!

There’s a small restaurant in our neighborhood that specializes in burgers. We often walk past it when we’re out cruising our hood and it’s always busy. So when we decided to try it, I had high expectations. My mouth was watering in anticipation but my reality couldn’t have been any further from my expectation. The burgers were pretty bad and even Tom, who is not that picky about hamburgers, didn’t finish his. What made the hamburger bad was the meat itself had no quality.

Last night I cooked a pork roast for dinner and Tom was raving about it, practically doing a song and dance routine. He wanted to know how I did it and I probably could have made something up or told him it was a secret, but that roast had nothing to do with me. I started with the kind of quality meat that can make anyone look like a terrific chef.

As a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant, what you can accomplish with any case is dependent on the quality of the case itself. If the case is strong, you can’t help but produce a great work product. If the case is weak, all of the manipulations in the world won’t help it or you. Just like Michelangelo believed that his sculpting merely revealed what was already inside the marble, I believe our CLNC^® work product reveals what’s already inside the case.

That’s why you want to give candid and objective opinions early on. A strong case will get stronger as it unfolds and a weak case gets weaker. For plaintiff attorneys that might mean advising the attorney the case has no merit. For defense attorneys that might mean advising the attorney that this is the worst negligence you’ve seen in your nursing practice.

If you want to serve a good burger to your attorney-clients watch the quality of the beef you’re working with. All of the techniques of the greatest chefs in the world won’t help you if you start with bad ingredients.

Success Is Inside!

Screening medical-related cases is one of the most important legal nurse consulting services you will provide as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant. Not only is it one of my favorite CLNC^® services but it is the first CLNC^® service you usually provide for new attorney-clients. Do it well and the attorneys keep coming back for more. Here are 16 screening strategies to keep your attorney-clients coming.

Stay Focused on the Essentials

1. Give the attorney an objective, candid and honest opinion without regard for what you think the attorney wants to hear. Put aside interests in personal gain (e.g., more billable hours) and focus only on what is ultimately best for the attorney, the client and the case.
2. Discuss the issues and theme of the case with the attorney-client and ascertain the date of the incident (when known) to help you focus quickly on the important events. If the case has been filed, request a copy of the complaint or petition. You will screen many cases in which the attorney knows little about the facts and has formed no opinion. If the attorney does have an opinion and you believe he is focusing on the wrong issues or your opinion is different, be sure to communicate your reasoning right away.
3. If you do not have time to do the screening as soon as you receive the case, at least read the cover letter and scan the medical records. This helps you to establish deadlines, determine the basic issues of the case and assure you have all the necessary records. If relevant records are missing, inform your attorney-client immediately.
4. Scan all relevant medical records and, where appropriate, note important observations and opinions. Avoid excessive writing at the screening stage, especially if you haven’t yet identified the essential issues and themes of the case. Your goal at the screening stage is to be efficient, and until you’ve reviewed all relevant records and identified key issues, it is very easy to go down unnecessary rabbit trails.
5. Use the screening form to track all possible defendants, types of experts needed, additional documents needed and recommended research. When you give your screening opinion to the attorney, you can incorporate some of these into recommendations for the next indicated steps.
6. Screening a case is similar to reading a mystery novel. You may even be surprised by the outcome because the focus may shift from something obvious, like a patient fall, to a less obvious issue, such as medication administration or safety policies and procedures. As new and more relevant issues arise, determine their significance and how they impact the essence of the case.
7. Do not overlook the obvious by overanalyzing the records. Likewise do not assume that the issues will automatically jump out at you. If you become overwhelmed by the task at hand or the volume of medical records, walk away for a while, or a day or two, then come back fresh and start again.
8. Do not assume the case has no merit simply because a physician reviewed the records and found no merit. Physicians tend to limit their reviews to doctors’ records and in so doing, they often miss vital information. For example, many MD experts do not review the nursing records and often it’s the nursing notes that shed the most light on what really happened to the patient. Always review the records completely and look for discrepancies in documentation by different providers.
9. If you were hired by the plaintiff attorney, look at the case from the defendant’s viewpoint. (What are the defenses or rationales in this case?) If you were hired by the defense attorney, look at the case from the plaintiff’s viewpoint. (What went wrong, if anything? Could anything have been done differently? Were any standards of care or practice guidelines breached?)

Efficiency Saves You Time and Saves Your Client Money

10. Don’t organize the medical records before you screen and you will save valuable time in the initial review process. If organizing the records is necessary before screening, do not organize them for comprehensive review and analysis, but organize only with the objective of making screening easier.
11. Do not do a formal report during the screening stage – just complete the screening form to facilitate communicating your opinion clearly and concisely. More comprehensive reports are only indicated once you have communicated your screening opinion and both you and the attorney agree that a comprehensive review and analysis of the medical records is indicated.
12. Access relevant healthcare references as needed while you are reviewing but don’t overdo it at this stage. Unless you need some piece of information before you can move on, make a list of topics to search on the Internet and do all your searching at once. This will keep you focused as you read through the record. Narrow your searches to match the factors in your particular case (e.g., octogenarian, female, femur fracture, mortality). Be sure to research any articles and publications authored by all the relevant players in the case.
13. Consider subcontracting the screening if the issues are outside your area of expertise. Make the decision to subcontract quickly, then act on it. Don’t wait until you need a CLNC^® subcontractor to try to find one. Develop a pool of CLNC^® subcontractors who are ready to respond to your needs. All successful CLNC^® consultants know what they don’t know and wisely tap the expertise of their peers.
14. Use a magnifying glass (buy the best one you can afford) so you can read those little squiggles and impress the attorney with your knowledge of hieroglyphics. You may determine the outcome of the case by being able to decipher something illegible to the average eye.
15. Keep a calendar of the year in question close by. Look for weekends and holidays when short staffing is common.
16. Pay particular attention when operative notes, admission history and physicals, discharge summaries and autopsy reports are dictated and transcribed. If an unusually long period of time elapsed between the event and the transcription, note that for future consideration.

Use these 16 strategies to make screening medical-related cases one of your most popular and satisfying CLNC^® services. Keep your attorney-clients coming back for more.

Success Is Inside!

The term “sexual assault” refers to forced sexual intercourse. The term used in your state, region or area may be called “sexual abuse” or “rape.” It is important for each person to check the law’s legal definition in their state.

How many of these statements have you heard as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant reviewing a sexual assault case?

• There was a delay in seeking treatment and/or reporting the assault.
• They know each other and they were on a date.
• There were no injuries.
• They were calm when they arrived.

CLNC^® consultants should focus on the facts in a case, not the assumptions while at the same time being alert to how others might interpret the case.

Many times the survivor may delay seeking treatment or reporting the incident. The delay in seeking care may have been because the victim was in shock. They could have been threatened, unconscious or waiting for a friend or family member to arrive to assist them. The survivor of a sexual assault is a trauma patient; and they will have the same psychological reactions as any other trauma patient. The reactions you may see documented are that they were calm one minute, crying or angry the next and withdrawn or even confused at another time. A Certified Legal Nurse Consultant should not focus on whether or not the victim delayed seeking care or delayed reporting the assault to determine if the case has merit.

Saying the victim knew the attacker so they can’t claim assault is not necessarily a strong defense. According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), 73% of sexual assaults are committed by a nonstranger and 38% by a friend or acquaintance. 93% of juvenile survivors know their attacker. Of the 93%, 34.2% are family members, 58.7% are acquaintances and only 7% are strangers.

Knowing the attacker, being on a date with them or even being married to them does not give the “okay” to be sexually assaulted. “No” means “no” when said to a spouse, dating partner, relative, friend, any kind of acquaintance or a stranger.

A physical examination, even in a child victim, may not reveal any injuries. Factors that can affect the injuries are anatomy, physiology, how much force was used, how much the victim resisted, the time lapsed between the assault and the exam and the grooming of the victims. Everyone’s anatomy is not the same and this is true of the genital area and the hymen also. If there was an injury or difference documented, it is important to know if it is an anomaly or an acute injury. Also, realize there are other types of injuries beside sexual assault that can cause an injury in the genital area or even cause a ruptured hymen. The vagina and cervix are vascular areas and heal quickly. If time has elapsed before the examination, any injury might be healing or healed. If injuries were documented, then you may be able to determine if the injury was acute by checking the records to see if the victim was examined a few days to a week later. If another examination was completed, compare the documentation of injuries. If documentation confirms that the anatomy is the same and no further sexual assault was found to have occurred, then it was probably not an acute injury.

Legal nurse consultants should also be aware that estrogen can play a role in whether there might have been injuries noted with the exam. Estrogen in females makes the cervix thicker and more redundant. Injuries might be less likely to occur during the child bearing years when there is usually more estrogen in the body. The victim’s resistance to the attack and the force and object(s) used have an effect on any injuries sustained. If the victim did not resist the attack, the examiner may not discover any injuries. The victim’s cooperation should not be confused with their willingness to have intercourse. They may have feared for their life, been too traumatized to resist, been drugged, intoxicated or the attacker could have threatened them, a loved one or even a pet.

Child victims may have been “groomed” by the predator. Grooming is the process of desensitizing the child. The predator usually has some type of relationship with the child. This relationship provides the predator with the opportunity and access to the child to engage, entrap, prepare and trick the child into accepting the sexual abuse. The grooming can start with subtle behaviors or statements and once the victim responds favorably, some form of sexual activity begins, and often progresses. When there is less resistance, there may be little to no injury sustained or noted.

Remember that a calm victim does not indicate whether assault did or did not happen. A Certified Legal Nurse Consultant needs to review and consider all information and documentation – the subjective and objective data obtained during the physical exam and the history of what occurred. Gather all records from other disciplines that might have spoken with or examined the victim after the assault. Review the records to be sure the examination was conducted thoroughly, to learn what type of practitioner performed the exam, that all evidence was collected and stored properly and that the chain of evidence was followed.

Most areas have at least one hospital and sometimes several that have a sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) or sexual assault response team (SART). A SANE is a registered nurse who has had specialized education to provide comprehensive care to sexual assault patients and demonstrates competency in conducting a forensic exam and who has the expertise to give effective courtroom testimony. SARTs are set up in a similar style with a multidisciplinary and community-based approach to caring for and assisting the victim. The teams usually consist of local law enforcement, prosecutors, judicial members, a victim advocacy group, the hospital, SANE members and any other professionals with a vested interest in assisting victims of sexual assault.

With a thorough review of all the information, a definite response to the question of whether the victim was really sexually assaulted still cannot always be given. The response that can be given is the results of the examination, the injuries sustained and any behaviors noted that were or were not consistent with the history obtained.

Guest Blogger Profile

Cheryl Garrison RN, CEN, SANE, CLNC has 18 years of emergency nursing experience and has been a SANE nurse for 8 years. She is cofounder of Class Act Consulting Services, LLC in Kansas specializing in emergency and abuse cases. Her company has assisted the local district attorney in the victims unit on various abuse cases. Her company partners with an elite group of Certified Legal Nurse Consultants who specialize in various nursing specialties including labor and delivery to hospice, home health and Medicare fraud cases.

Our CLNC^® Pros deliver their top techniques to boost the efficiency and thoroughness of your medical research.

1. Use only authoritative websites for medical research. Accessing research studies may require a fee which is billable to the attorney.
2. As a member of the NACLNC^® Association, Certified Legal Nurse Consultants have free access to the Internet’s preeminent legal nurse consulting resources including CLNC^® resource links, a peer-reviewed collection of hundreds of the best Internet links on medical, nursing and scientific research.
3. Simplify your medical research with the National Library of Medicine. From this site you can enter MedlinePlus^®, a comprehensive database of article summaries from international medical literature and also search biomedical journal literature from MEDLINE/PubMed.
4. Subscribe to MD Consult and conduct a minimal search for general and specific information. The site contains many authoritative and up-to-date text and journal references. As you review individual journal publications, you can search for more articles on specific topics, instead of starting a new search. This time-saver allows you to cross-reference pertinent literature and identify key search words during your original search. You can even identify literature that is critical of the researchers or their methods, sometimes with notes citing conflicting results from other studies.
5. Screen the case to analyze and prepare a brief overview of the essence of the case. This helps you focus on the relevant injuries, treatment protocols and causation issues when researching.
6. Always review the standards of any pertinent professional organization. You can identify the relevant associations through the Healthcare Standards Directory (HCS) Online. This ensures that you include these standards in your research so you don’t miss professional standards that aren’t found in your online search. For example, for an emergency room case, contact the American Board of Emergency Medicine. For an obstetrical case, contact the National Association of Neonatal Nurses and The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. These sites offer a wealth of information. Request the information these associations publish for consumers as well. The references cited in the bibliography of any standards are also useful.
7. Decide whether you want to conduct broadly defined research or narrowly defined research. This will shape the words that you use for your research. For example “GI bleed” is more broad than “stress-related mucosal bleeding manual ventilation.”
8. Keep your beginning search simple, then do a more complex search. Sometimes the simple things are the most pertinent to the case. Don’t make it harder than it has to be. Ask yourself what you really need to find, verify or compare. Recognize when enough is enough. Gain a sense of when you’ve got enough material and move on to applying the research to the case.
9. When searching for a primary subject, such as diabetes, remember to search at the same time for related issues relevant to the case, such as decubitus. This helps you avoid duplicating your efforts later.
10. Always check the bibliography of any journal article for additional research sources. While searching for general information in texts and Internet sources, make a list of the authors who are most widely published or referenced. This list could provide additional literature sources or potential testifying experts.
11. Make note of the medications and medical products used. Then search for any drug interactions or medical device incidents that could have contributed to the case in any way. Systematically reviewing this information keeps you from overlooking any potential product liability issues resulting from defective products. If you need to research a particular drug, or medical device, don’t overlook company sponsored websites.
12. Provide copies of the research articles to the attorney and highlight relevant information in the article to emphasize what is significant and to expedite the attorney’s review.

Thanks to Suzanne Arragg, RN, BSN, CDONA/LTC, CLNC; Laura M. Averette, RN, MSN, CPHRM, CLNC; Dale Barnes, RN, MSN, PhN, CLNC; Nikki J. Chuml, RNC, CCE, FMC, CLNC; Larry Frace, RN, CLNC; Margaret Gallagher, RN, BSN, MSN, CLNC; Dorene Goldstein, RNC, CLNC; Sandra Higelin, RN, MSN, CS, CWCN, CLNC; Jane Hurst, RN, CLNC; Camille Joyner, RN, CCM, CLNC and Mildred Mannion, RN, BSN, CNOR, CLNC for sharing their strategies for researching medical-related cases.

Success Is Inside!

People, including my 85-year-old father, who suffer from aberrant heart rhythms received a shock (literally) last year when Medtronic, manufacturer of the Sprint Fidelis leads used to connect electronic defibrillators to their hearts, were malfunctioning at rates higher than those of other leads. The leads were later pulled from the market, but were not pulled from the recipients. Depending on who you believe, anywhere from 87.9%-94.3% of the leads are still functioning in patients. Many of the recalled electronic defibrillators cannot be changed or removed without a risk of harm to the patient.

Earlier this May, the Heart Rhythm Society, a heart-doctor group representing MDs who implant and extract defibrillators and their associated leads, issued policy statements calling for hospitals to better police the experience and training of the surgeons who extract defibrillator leads. They also issued a statement calling for companies that produce the leads to do a better job of tracking their performance once they’re on the market.

A Certified Legal Nurse Consultant participating in a case where there’s suspicion of a malfunctioning cardiac defibrillator, its leads or an injury that occurred while the leads were being removed, should look closely at the experience of the doctor who connected or extracted the leads. While the new guidelines have yet to take effect, the training and experience may be relevant to the injury. Defense Certified Legal Nurse Consultants may be able to raise the level of experience in the defense of the doctor while plaintiff-side CLNC^® consultants will raise lack of experience as evidence of negligence.

The medical-device manufacturers never fail to shock me!

Success Is Inside!

My most memorable case occurred when I testified for the very first time. I had been a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant for about a year. The case was a will contest. The client was the daughter of an elderly woman who had passed away in a skilled facility. About 72 hours prior to her death, the son (the client’s brother) had the will altered so that he would inherit most of the estate. The changes to the will were made by an attorney. The son then took the will to the facility and had his mother sign it with a notary (a friend of his) present and another witness (his sister-in-law). The estate was worth around $1,000,000.00.

My attorney-client hired me to review the medical records to search for evidence that the deceased was under undue influence when she signed the second will (based on the records and that 72-hour window). I reviewed the records and prepared my report. I found the mother was confused, too weak to hold a pen by herself, under the influence of strong sedating medications and hypoxic.

My attorney-client decided that his case depended on my assessment of the mother and her mental state during the time of the second will signing based on my findings in the medical records. I was called to testify. I was nervous so I rehearsed the night before.

There was a jury present to hear the case. The opposing attorney, of course, tried to tear me apart but I looked at the jury and relayed facts from my report in terms they could understand. He could not trip me up no matter how hard he tried. I testified that when the mother signed the second will, she had low oxygen saturations in the 70s and 80s with use of supplemental oxygen (the patient was a DNR by her choice). The impact of hypoxia on the brain, the effects of large doses of morphine and Ativan IV in regards to sensorium, the fact she had to be fed as she could not hold a fork or spoon and probably not a pen on her own, and the nursing and rehab staff repeatedly charted the patient was confused and disoriented painted a picture of her mental state. I also pointed out the doctor who testified earlier that the client was alert and oriented was not the doctor who had seen her last based on the signatures in the chart. Furthermore no physician had assessed her during the 24 hours prior to her signing the second will. Thus, the testifying physician, although he was the PCP, would not have had first hand knowledge of her mental status at the time in question as did the nursing staff and rehab staff who actually assessed her during the time frame in question.

The final question that the opposing attorney asked was, “How much does Mr. M. pay you for your services?” I answered his question and he then said, snickering with a smug look on his face, “That is a little steep, don’t you think, for a nurse?” I started to reply and he cut me off. I looked up at the judge and asked calmly if I could answer the question. The judge told me to go ahead. I proceeded to tell the attorney that I had 24 years of nursing experience and had taken care of hundreds of dying patients. I explained what a CLNC^® consultant does and how I received my training, and I offered to give the opposing attorney my contact information. The jury was smiling at me. I then left the court room.

Later that evening I received a phone call from my attorney. He said, “You were fantastic, we won. The jury said your testimony sealed the case in our favor. By the way, on my way out, I patted Rob (the opposing attorney) on the shoulder and told him that is why I pay your consulting fee. He wasn’t laughing anymore, but fuming mad.” The daughter received her half of the estate as directed in the original will and the court determined the mother was not competent and was under undue influence when she signed the second will thus it was null and void. I have since worked for the opposing attorney.

P.S. Please comment and share your most memorable CLNC^® case.

Guest Blogger Profile

Stephanie D. Stanley, RN, CLNC owns SDS Legal Nurse Consulting Services, LLC in Virginia. Stephanie consults with attorneys on a variety of medical-related cases.