The role of the legal nurse consultant in practice includes many facets - and multiple benefits to the client. These include, but may not be limited to:
• Preparing letters to request medical records
• Paginating and tabbing the medical records
• Tracking for accurate medical record keeping
• Identifying missing medical records
• Completing work as an attorney product under confidentiality
• Working within the budget provided
• Reviewing any case where injury is at question
• Reviewing for merit and providing recommendation to the attorney (In no way does this include the practice of law—the attorney client always provides the final decision.)
• Analyzing and defining the medical issues in the case
• Assessing issues of causation
• Assessing issues of damages
• Analyzing and defining future medical needs of the injured client
• Analyzing and projecting future medical costs of the injured client
• Generating research-based reports
• Generating a meritorious-based report
• Creating a list of all parties involved in the case
• Generating a detailed chronology of the case
• Creating a medication list with potential side effects
• Providing demonstrative evidence in timelines and pictures
• Recommending Medicare Set-Aside Allocations when appropriate
• Recommending Life Care Planning when appropriate
• Researching like medical conditions in other cases for the attorney client
• Recommending cost-saving techniques for the attorney and client
• Providing recommendations for client safety questions
• Identifying testifying experts needed
• Locate and interview potential expert witnesses
• Preparing the expert witnesses
• Serving as an expert witness when appropriate
• Serving as a fact witness
• Educating the attorney-client in the disease or the disease process
• Explaining and teaching the medical record to attorney and his/her client
• Teach medical terminology, acronyms, and abbreviations
• Explaining the administrative procedures and structure of the medical facility
• Providing attorney support during deposition, discovery, trial and mediation
• Assisting in the production of interrogatories
• Providing medical research regarding the disease and the disease process
• Providing current standards of care and policies and procedures in medical issues
• Building the attorney client library with meritorious research
• Assisting the attorney in the development of case strategy
• Preparing the medical case for trial proceedings
• Attending Independent Medical Examinations (IME)
• Consulting with external persons to obtain deeper understanding of the possible needs of the case, i.e., billing and coding, diagnosis and treatment needs