27 Nursing Specialties Attorneys Need for Legal Nurse Consultant Jobs

Stabilization during transport is a common issue in air transport cases. The status of the patient at the transporting facility, in transport and upon arrival at the receiving facility is often in dispute.

While anesthesia errors are less common today, when negligence does occur the result is often catastrophic. Defective equipment, wrong dosage of anesthesia and failure to monitor the patient’s response to anesthesia are the common issues in anesthesia medical malpractice cases.

The most common legal nurse consultant jobs related to cardiac cases include failure to timely diagnose and treat myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolism, aortic dissection and interventional cardiology complications from arterial laceration and pulmonary vein stenosis after ablation.

Case managers and rehabilitation nurses can create life care plans for catastrophically injured plaintiffs in any type of medical-related case. A lifecare plan projects future healthcare needs and costs (nursing, medical and ancillary,  equipment and supplies and changes in the home environment).

Lawsuits can be related to any type of medical malpractice. Corrections facilities are a unique environment, which creates a demand for legal nurse consultants who have experience in corrections.

Critical care nurses are viewed by attorneys as assets to the litigation team because they treat the most critical patients. Little stands between the critical care nurse and the patient in this fast-paced setting where seconds mean the difference between life and death. Critical care issues in medical malpractice cases include misdiagnosis of a severe medical condition and failure to timely treat. Additional issues include patient monitoring, reporting, ventilator support and stabilization of patients.

The Emergency Department is a fast-paced environment and often little is known about the patient who presents. If there is nursing or medical negligence, the anonymity of the staff makes it easier for a patient to file a lawsuit without personal feelings for the provider coming into play. The plaintiff is essentially suing a faceless defendant. Common medical malpractice issues in emergency cases include triage, delay in treatment, premature discharge and misdiagnosis (M.I., stroke aneurysm, appendicitis, fracture, etc.).

Gastroenterology cases often involve endoscopic complications, failure to diagnose colon cancer and perforation of the colon.

Patients are discharged from hospitals earlier than ever before. This means they arrive home sicker. In the home health environment common medical malpractice cases include the failure to timely seek medical intervention and the failure to hospitalize when indicated.

Negligence claims are complex because the patient is at end of life and damages are limited. Hospice cases with compelling issues (e.g., abuse) have increased damages and can be effectively litigated.

Before COVID-19, infections in hospitals were already at an all-time high, complicated by superbugs. Add COVID-19 on top of the infection epidemic and the environment becomes ripe for medical malpractice cases alleging failure to prevent, timely diagnose and/or treat infection.

The majority of long term care legal nurse consultant jobs involve COVID-19, abuse, pressure injuries, falls and failing to timely obtain medical intervention.

Common legal issues in nursing malpractice cases include inappropriate staffing, inappropriate delegation and failure to adequately supervise. RNs with supervisory and management experience are best qualified to address these issues, as nurses at the bedside do not make staffing, delegation and supervision decisions.

Medical-surgical legal nurse consultants are generalists and assist with many of the specialties described from the medical-surgical perspective. They also consult with attorneys on IV infiltration cases and medical errors, which are at an unprecedented high in U.S. hospitals.

Every obstetrical brain-injured baby case necessitates an in-depth analysis by the legal nurse consultant of the first 24 hours of neonatal life and whether or not there was any exacerbation of birth injuries during those 24 hours. For example, failure to respond to respiratory distress is a common allegation in birth-related injuries. Additional neonatal issues include neonatal hypoglycemia and jaundice.

A common medical malpractice issue in neurology is failure to timely diagnose and treat stroke and brain injury.

Current legal nurse consultant jobs in neurosurgery include spinal and brain surgery cases which can result in catastrophic damages.

Obstetrics is a compelling specialty for legal nurse consultant jobs because the damages can be catastrophic and long-term. One of the most grievous medical malpractice cases is hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy resulting in brain injury. Other commonly litigated issues are maternal or fetal death, mismanagement of preterm labor, mismanagement of high-risk pregnancy and brachial plexus injuries. Gynecology cases frequently include failure to timely diagnose and treat breast, uterine or ovarian cancer.

The most commonly litigated issue in oncology is failure to timely diagnose and treat cancer which could have prevented untimely death. The world of oncology is expansive as is the need for legal nurse consultant jobs in this specialty.

Failed surgery cases involving the spine, shoulders and knees are widespread among the legal nurse consultant jobs in this specialty.

The most highly requested legal nurse consultant jobs in PACU involve failing to identify post-op complications.

Pediatric nurses deal with many of the issues described in any of the nursing specialties addressed, but analysis for pediatric legal nurse consultants is unique to minors. Additionally, school nursing issues are commonly litigated in pediatric cases.

Lawsuits resulting from plastic or cosmetic surgery can involve nerve or tissue damage, disfigurement or scarring and infections.

Common psychiatric legal nurse consultant jobs involve suicide cases, misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment of psychiatric disorders as well as improper use of pharmaceutical and physical restraints.

These cases involve failure to diagnose lung cancer and lung infections. Complications from interventional procedures (e.g., bronchoscopy) are also a common issue.

Surgical litigation most often involves catastrophic results, wrong site surgery, retention of foreign objects, damage to internal organs, nerve damage and post-op infections. Robotic surgery cases are the latest trend in surgical cases, which is probably attributable to the providers’ lack of training and experience.

Urology-related cases involve failure to diagnose prostate, bladder, kidney and testicular cancer as well as surgical mishaps.

RNs at the bedside are tuned into what actually goes on with patients every minute 24/7. The attorney benefits by having them provide a real world (not theoretical) understanding of the nursing and medical issues.

RN supervisors and administrators are experts on the inner workings of the healthcare system and legal issues, such as staffing and delegation, that are beyond the scope of the average bedside nurse.

An RN educator must be a strong writer and verbally articulate. Both skills benefit attorneys who have to explain complex issues in simple ways to jurors.

Nurse practitioners can cost-effectively educate attorneys about many medical issues because of their advanced practice level.

Electronic medical records are widespread in almost every medical-related case and attorneys are stumped by them. EMR nurses are expert at unraveling the medical records for attorneys and Certified Legal Nurse Consultant colleagues who need guidance with EMRs.

Risk managers have experience reviewing thousands of medical records in a variety of specialties. While the review objective is different for risk managers than legal nurse consultants, their experience is quite relevant to the review process for attorneys. The risk manager’s generalist experience is of enormous value to an attorney who handles many types of cases.