Most states require that a plaintiff obtain and/or file an expert affidavit when filing a medical malpractice lawsuit. This helps to keep nonmeritorious cases from clogging and draining the legal system. While these affidavits do not always have to be signed by a physician, many are.
The electronic medical record (EMR) is becoming omnipresent in the healthcare system. But EMR tampering issues in medical-related cases are a brand new frontier. It’s rare for Certified Legal Nurse Consultants and attorneys to peek behind the EMR curtain, but in the case of Samuel Sweet versus UPMC University Hospital we get to do just that. I first ran across this case last year, when the judge ordered the trial delayed after a local newspaper article about the case and the alleged tampering was published just before jury selection.
I seriously could write a book about this case. I met the attorney of this memorable case at a legal seminar. I was asked to review the medical records and fetal monitoring strips of a baby who was severely brain injured. An OB/GYN expert, who had experience as a consulting expert and testifying expert for plaintiffs, reviewed the records. The OB/GYN found no negligence or deviation to the standard of care on the part of the physician or the labor nurses and could not support a plaintiff’s case for causation in this regard. The OB/GYN found the fetal monitoring strips to showed no distress by the fetus and no causation for the injuries the baby subsequently sustained.
I am learning how to breathe again. You will never believe what happened. I called an attorney’s office last week to get an appointment. I spoke with a receptionist who accidentally sent the attorney-prospect a note saying I needed a consult for a medical malpractice case. He called me and left a message giving me his direct number. So when I heard his message I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I returned his call, got him on the phone and explained that I was a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant and explained the CLNC® services I could offer. His firm had just lost their legal nurse consultant. He asked me to come and make a presentation. So I am going to knock this out of the park.
The first attorney I consulted with as a legal nurse consultant was serendipity. Everything I did was perfectly in sync with him. We hit it off like best friends – it was as though we had known each other in another lifetime. With my goal to turn my legal nurse consulting business from my part-time venture into a full-time business, I concluded, “I’ve got it all figured out. I know exactly what attorneys want and this is going to be easy.” Boy, I could not have been more wrong.
My experience in hospital nursing was filled with mixed emotions. The frustration level was one that I have never experienced anywhere else. But I kept being a nurse, and I kept going to work. Nursing jobs paid the bills but did not contribute to my soul.
That’s a pretty powerful question with many different answers. Back in June, I tweeted about a high-profile case that involved an MD who was blogging about his medical malpractice trial as the trial was in progress. I used this as an example to illustrate why Certified Legal Nurse Consultants should recommend that their attorney-clients check out social media (and the blogosphere) for postings by opposing parties (and their own parties), before and during a trial. That case ended in a substantial settlement for the plaintiff after the MD was shown to have exposed trial strategy, ridiculed the case and made generally inappropriate postings for which he was confronted during the trial.
For the first two months, nothing was happening. What was I doing wrong?
One thing every Certified Legal Nurse Consultant knows is that a simple apology by a healthcare provider often goes a long way in disarming anger in patients. But what if a doctor or representative of a healthcare facility were to apologize to a victim of medical malpractice? Do you think that might reduce the number of lawsuits and the associated costs of litigation? It actually does (and that saves us all money)!
I’m not a pack-rat, but I’ll admit a couple of bookshelves in the business section of my “library” are a bit over-run by books I’ve read, plan to read and some books I will probably never read. The other day Tom was doing some unsolicited (and unwanted) Spring cleaning and ran across a book given to me by the marketing guru Seth Godin. Tom looked at the cover and asked me “Vickie, what the #&%* is a meatball sundae?” He held the book up and I laughed because it does indeed have a photograph of a pretty unappealing meatball sundae (as well as a funny shot of Seth in a chef’s cap).
*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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