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Social Media Warnings for Certified Legal Nurse Consultants

Social Media Warnings for Certified Legal Nurse Consultants

Social media accounts such as Facebook®, Twitter®, Instagram® and their like present a wealth of potentially damaging information for both plaintiff and defense. Many people leave those accounts open to public viewing, indexing and searching. It’s common and considered standard practice for attorneys to review the public and private social media accounts of their own client and the public social media accounts of the opposing parties, expert witnesses and even jurors for potentially useful or damaging information. Attorneys research those social media accounts before, during and after litigation.

Many account owners set the privacy settings to allow only “friends” or approved parties to view their posts. If an attorney requests you, as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant, to “friend” or infiltrate an opposing party’s or juror’s private account, don’t do it. Attorneys are themselves ethically prohibited from doing so and ethically prevented from instructing someone else to do the same. The attorney should always obtain the information through the proper discovery process.

While social media is certainly a minefield, you now know, as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant, that it’s a breach of an attorney’s ethics to ask you to surreptitiously participate in social media of an opposing party, expert, witness or juror in a case.

I’m Just Facebookin’

P.S. Comment and share your experiences with social media in cases.

2 thoughts on “Social Media Warnings for Certified Legal Nurse Consultants

  1. Call me an old fogey. I have a dumb phone and I do not do the social media except for this blog. I have never blogged before and I enjoy the heck out of this one!
    I understand your point Vickie, it would certainly be a breach for an attorney to ask a CLNC® consultant to find something that could be devastating to a trial process. Sounds like work for the secret agent 007.

  2. It is amazing how the technology has been advancing during our lifetime. How did we survive without internet, cell phones and navigation systems? Social media is a way for us to come out of our shell, connect and communicate. Although not a form of verbal communication in the physical sense, social media provides the matrix for exchange of valuable information, self expression and growth. That is POWER.
    However, with POWER, there comes a great responsibility. As nurses we are continuously taught about ethics. Ethics keeps our profession viable and give us a sense of pride. We have to apply the same ethics to all aspects of our lives 24/7.
    That is our responsibility. We have an inherent sense that tells us what is right and what is wrong. As we live in the world of rapidly evolving technology, the inner voice of right and wrong, although will guide us in the right direction, may not save us in the time of trouble. We need to get as much education as possible because education stimulates our minds to think in a critical way, which by the way as nurses we are quite accustomed to. That is why I am eternally grateful to Vickie for providing the guidance to all of us CLNC® consultants. Everyday of my life, in everything I do, I hear Vickie’s voice telling me:” You are a NURSE and you can do anything.”
    Thank you Vickie for your inspiration and for making me proud to be a nurse, a CLNC® consultant and a better human being.
    P.S. I was born in the former Soviet Union where the government controlled the people through use of fear. If people were to express what they really thought about the oppressive actions of the communist government, they would surely not be around to enjoy life. The fear of imprisonment was real and people were afraid to express their thoughts and feelings regarding social, among other issues. Even as children, we developed a sense of caution as to what, how and when to speak. Perhaps 1% of that cautious sense should be used when communicating via social media. I say only 1% because the rest of it was pure fear.

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*The opinions and statements made by Vickie Milazzo, the founder of Medical-Legal Consulting Institute, Inc. are based on her experiences and expertise, should not be applied beyond the specific context provided, and do not guaranty or project actual results. Vickie Milazzo is no longer involved in the operations or management of the business, but is involved as an independent education consultant.

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