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Legal Nurse Consultant Success Story

CLNC® Success Story: A Day in the Life of CLNC Consultant Dale Barnes

One of the things I love about being a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant is no two days are alike. I am never bored and I always have to be on my toes, as I do not know what the day will have in store for me.

To elaborate on what some days are like, I’ve been working on a huge obstetrical case involving premature twins. The medical records are voluminous and I’ve spent days just organizing ten large binders of medical records. The way the records arrived was unbelievable. It was like someone had taken seven years worth of records, thrown them in the air and shuffled them. Those were not the most exciting days.

In the middle of tediously organizing medical records, I had fun going to a defense medical exam (DME) for the twins. I got to interact, play with them and have fun observing them. They are now seven-years-old, and quite rambunctious. Since the DME was about an hour and half from where I live, that was the bulk of my day. (And yes, I do charge for travel time).

In the midst of working on this bad baby case, I got a bad faith insurance case and a long term care case. I also got several complaints to review for the Board of Registered Nursing.

One day, I was reviewing a case in which I was testifying two weeks later. The case was one that originated as a complaint to the Board of Registered Nursing but had progressed to a lawsuit in which the issue was rescinding a nursing license. As I was preparing my testimony, the phone rang. It was an attorney I did not know, who had been referred to me by another Certified Legal Nurse Consultant. He told me he had a trial coming up in a couple of weeks and needed an expert quickly. He said the case involved defending a registered nurse to prevent rescinding of his license. I asked about the case to ensure there was no conflict of interest. Turns out I had to tell him this was the same case in which I was preparing to testify for the District Attorney. He asked if I could find him another nurse to testify. I told him I would be a bit uncomfortable finding someone I know to testify against me. I also told him I knew we could not discuss the case, but had to ask him if he had watched the videos that were presented as evidence in this case. His response was, “Yes, and I wish I was on your side!”

The above call came to me on a Friday. On Monday I got a call from another new attorney. He had a possible case involving a 12-year-old with a chronic condition. He was trying to decide whether to pursue just a negligence theory, or also include assault and battery because an MRI with sedation was given without parental consent. So, all those medical records were sent to me and I began my review.

In between all of the above, I was busy writing interrogatories and deposition questions for other cases that were in the discovery phase.

As you can see, I never have a boring day or one in which I can predict exactly what will come my way. I love the challenge and can’t imagine doing anything else.

dale-barnesGuest Blogger Profile

Dale Barnes, RN, MSN, PHN, CLNC has more than 30 years of diverse nursing experience. During her 15 years in business as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant she has successfully handled a variety of cases and consults with both plaintiff and defense attorneys who specialize in oncology cases. Dale is a CLNC Mentor and a guest faculty member for LegalNurse.com.

P.S. Comment here to congratulate Dale on her CLNC success.

P.P.S. Read more CLNC Success Stories and send your CLNC Success Story to [email protected].

3 thoughts on “CLNC® Success Story: A Day in the Life of CLNC Consultant Dale Barnes

  1. Dale,
    That is an amazing story. I will be starting my CLNC® Certification Program in a few days. Just how do you prioritize and stay organized? I would love to know your method for that. Deadlines must always be on your mind. Thank you in advance for any tips.
    Regards,
    Lora Flinn RN, BSN
    (And soon to be CLNC® consultant)

  2. Hi Dale. I believe I recently had the privilege of hearing you speak on another topic at the Las Vegas CLNC® 6-Day Certification Seminar. You are a very dynamic speaker as well as seasoned CLNC® consultant… I hope to be like you when I grow up in my new CLNC® specialty! My question is the same as Lori’s…. HOW do you prioritize? Do you ever get overwhelmed? Would you be willing to revisit your wonderful above story with some down to earth/ real world inner thoughts that go thru your mind (such as ‘omg’ etc.) and TEACH US HOW TO SCRAMBLE to manage like a pro? Lol…… There MUST be wonderful moments when you are crazy busy and COULD delegate the case but either don’t want to, or cannot find a trustworthy delegee…? Talk to me!
    Assunta Maria Thompson, RN, BSN, PHN and (newly certified CLNC® consultant)

  3. Congrats! I don’t know how you keep up with so many cases at one time. You have to be a very organized person! Is it hard working for the licensing board? I would think so, to take someone’s license after they worked so hard to get it. That is of course unless there is proof that they blatently did something that was not within the standard of care! Anyway keep up the good work. Maybe one day I will be as good and as sought after as you are. But, I love my one attorney when he does get cases that I can assist him on! Lol

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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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