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There’s No Space for Vigilantes in Legal Nurse Consulting

It is critical to stay detached when you’re analyzing medical-related cases as a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant. Our job is not to be a vigilante for injured people or the protector of overworked, underpaid registered nurses. Our job is to give an objective viewpoint of the merits of the case. Sometimes that means telling a defense attorney that the case is meritorious. And sometimes it means telling a plaintiff attorney the case has no merit despite unfortunate injuries.

This is not always easy, as is highlighted by an RN who shared that she herself had been sued in a medical malpractice case. The good news is this nurse was successfully defended by the defense attorney and she won the case. But she was surprised to discover how bad she felt for the affected brain-injured baby and his parents.

If it’s tough to stay detached about an injured plaintiff when you’re the one being sued, it’s indeed challenging to do so when you are the CLNC® consultant in the case. But beware: let your emotions get in the way of your consulting opinions and the loser might not just be the plaintiff or defendant but also you and your CLNC business.

I’m Just Sayin’

P.S. Comment and share medical-related cases that have tugged at your heartstrings.

3 thoughts on “There’s No Space for Vigilantes in Legal Nurse Consulting

  1. My first case did tug at my heart strings: The wrongful death case was about a new mother who lost her baby during the labor process. I know how precious babies are, which is my own lengthy story. My first thought was, “This is a new mother, will she ever try to have another baby?” I had to release that thought immediately and focus on being objective and I was.

    The baby was revived and lived 5 days after birth. They found he was brain dead. Right off the bat, at the attorney’s office, one attorney pointed out an ink blot covering an early reading on the fetal heart monitor strip. One of the attorneys asked me, “Do you think this is tampering?” I told her, “Let me look into it, my opinions can change when I get more medical records.” The second set of same medical records revealed the ink blot was tampering because it was gone and the newer records were re-recorded on a different monitoring tape (the grid was off compared to the first set).

    There were so many red flags in this case, it was unbelievable. All red flags pointed to the nurse. An ethical nurse would never tell a family, “Hit the button to turn the alarm off so you can sleep.”

    As a new baby CLNC® consultant, I cut my teeth on this case

  2. I will go 1 step further-making an opinion to your attorney before you have all the facts. I was working on a case-where I only had taped recordings of police, social workers, nurses, etc.-and the police were zeroing in on the plaintiff that she killed the patient. This was 7 hrs worth of taped interviews. I gave an opinion to this attorney w/o all the medical records-big mistake. Lost a good attorney. A lesson in my 1st year of CLNC® consulting-a real growth experience & not one I want to repeat!!!!

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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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