Expertise
“If you didn’t chart it, you didn’t do it” Part 3: The Nursing Home Defense Perspective
Do you subscribe to “If you didn’t chart it you didn’t do it”? Incomplete nursing records plague all types of settings and complicate nursing home defense strategies. Nursing homes are particularly vulnerable due to the low number of professional staff available to document. Nursing homes have many challenges, many of which directly affect the quality…
Read MoreExpert Witness Evaluation of Liability for Healthcare Fall
Injurious healthcare falls are one of the most common reasons why providers are sued. Spinal cord injuries, head injuries, and fractures make these serious cases for attorneys and nursing expert witnesses. Many states have regulations that govern who is qualified to act as a liability expert. These factors make a strong expert witness: a combination…
Read MoreAnalyzing liability for a healthcare fall
You’re a legal nurse consultant asked to be involved in analyzing liability for a healthcare fall. When injurious falls occur in a healthcare facility, a lawsuit may result. Here are some of the common deviations from the standard of care that may lead to a fall. The plaintiff’s expert witness may allege any of these…
Read More3 Faces of Bullying in Health Care
Bullying in health care shows up in many forms. Here are some examples. Bullying by a patient An angry young male is admitted to the hospital after he was shot by police during a drug deal. He becomes demanding and treats the nurses like they are his personal servants. One of the nurses finds a…
Read MoreHow the Legal Nurse Consultant Can Assist an Attorney with a Fall Case
The legal nurse consultant (LNC) assists the attorney by providing services to identify the liability, causation and damages associated with a fall case. These are some of the services. LNC Services for a Fall Case A chronology of medical care The LNC goes through the records of the plaintiff from before and after the fall.…
Read MoreWinning the Global Fight Against AIDs
Are we winning the global fight against AIDS? I remember first reading about AIDS in the early 1980s. Then AIDs was diagnosed in fewer than 20 patients in the U.S. Millions of Africans were infected, but there was no way to detect this. Dr. Michel Kazatchkine was one of the physicians involved in the early…
Read MoreHow to get information about a motor vehicle accident
Have you ever wondered how you can get hidden sources of information about a motor vehicle accident, particularly when there is a question of when it happened? Here’s a proven fact: you can and should work with the attorney to determine timing of the event. Secret sources of information about a motor vehicle accident 1.…
Read MoreCertification or Certificate – What initials would you put after your name?
Should you get a certification or a certificate as a legal nurse consultant? They are different! One of my colleagues Carol Alvin prepared this guest post. There are many different types of educations available for nurses who are interested in pursuing a career as a Legal Nurse Consultant. There are online courses, a university based…
Read MoreSpinal cord injury after a fall
A spinal cord injury can result from falls; thus a full assessment is critical after a fall to determine if there are injuries to the spinal cord. These injuries can be devastating. Common types of spinal cord injury The spine consists of 33 vertebrae: 7 cervical, 12 thoracic, 5 lumbar, 5 sacral and 4 coccygeal.…
Read MoreWound treatment 101
Legal nurse consultants will encounter many medical records that detail types of wound treatment. Hyperbaric oxygenation, negative pressure wound therapy, surgical closure, debridement, and topical dressings are all treatment options for wounds. A combination of these modalities may be utilized to treat a wound. Virtually all wound treatment regimens incorporate the utilization of a topical…
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