Superior Training for Legal Nurse Consultants
June 9th, 2022 10:30 am-5:30 pm Eastern
SESSION 1
Analysis of Domestic Violence Cases and the LNC | Teresa Devitt Lynch
Forensic Analysis of Injury
What caused the injury? In this session you’ll get a foundation on how to evaluate and interpret injuries related to blunt and sharp force trauma commonly utilized in domestic and intimate partner violence incidents.
Mechanical or chemical forces break or stretch tissues. In criminal cases, your evaluation and analysis of the wound characteristics will provide your attorney client with information related to the
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- · nature and timing of the violent act,
- · positioning of the suspect and victim,
- · sequence of events,
- · type of weapon utilized, and
- · other information relevant to piecing together elements of the crime.
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Wound analysis may play a critical role in the prosecution or defense of a suspect. This session’s content increases your knowledge to help the attorney understand the interplay between the factors related to injury formation.
Teresa Devitt-Lynch MSN RN AFN-BC, SANE-A is a certified adult Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner and board certified Advanced Forensic Nurse. The proprietor of the INTREPID Forensic Healthcare Consulting firm, she provides criminal case consultation and expert witness services for military and civilian courts. Recently relocated to North Dakota, Teresa provides services to victims of sexual assault and battering.
SESSION 2
Examining Mechanism of Injury | Teresa Devitt- Lynch
Are you well versed in the concept of mechanism of injury (MOI)? This is the manner in which a physical injury occurred (e.g., strike to the face/body, stabbing, fall from a height). In this session, Teresa will take you into a deep dive examining 3 basic MIOs:
blunt force trauma,
harp force trauma and
burn trauma.
Knowledge of MOIs guides your evaluation and interpretation of present and absent injuries. It is also used to identify the potential severity of the injuries as they relate to the indicted charges. This presentation will further define the types of mechanisms of injury and identify specific injuries related to each MOI providing the participants with the foundational information to effectively evaluate and analyze domestic violence and intimate partner violence cases.
Teresa Devitt-Lynch MSN RN AFN-BC, SANE-A is a certified adult Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner and board certified Advanced Forensic Nurse. The proprietor of the INTREPID Forensic Healthcare Consulting firm, she provides criminal case consultation and expert witness services for military and civilian courts. Recently relocated to North Dakota, Teresa provides services to victims of sexual assault and battering.
SESSION 3
Case Analysis | Teresa Devitt Lynch
With the details from a real case, you’ll have an opportunity to evaluate the case and draw some conclusions based on the evidence. You’ll meet fellow attendees in a small group setting. This session will focus on identifying and evaluating the criminal charges levied against the defendant in a domestic violence case.
SESSION 4
Strangulation | Victoria Morton
The investigation of non-fatal incidents of strangulation within the context of domestic violence has only recently attracted the attention of policy and law-makers, law enforcement officials and prosecutors. The lack of visible, external injuries and a misunderstanding of the significance of such leads to the unintentional minimization of this type of violence. This presentation will provide a review of the pathophysiology of non-fatal strangulation and an overview of the medical and forensic examination and care protocols for these patients.
Legal Nurse Consultants can contribute significantly to the prosecution or defense of persons indicted for causing death or bodily injury via gunshot wounds. The LNC's role is not to determine whodunnit in these types of cases, but rather to evaluate and analyze the medical evidence available to assist attorneys in mounting strong prosecution or defense litigations. Through this presentation, you will be able to evaluate medically-relevant indicted charges and analyze the available medical evidence to support or refute those charges.
You will be able to evaluate the criminal charges associated with gunshot wounds, discuss the process of forensically analyzing the medical evidence and look for a connection between the medical evidence and the indicated charges.
Victoria Morton MS, BSN, RN SANE-A, CP-SANE
Victoria Morton holds her SANE-A Certification through the IAFN and CP-SANE through the Texas Office of Attorney General. She received her master’s degree from The University of Florida with a Forensic Science focus, has received additional training in Forensic and Clinical Evaluation of Gunshot Wounds and Death Investigation, and has served as a Legal Consultant since 2013. She currently works at Baylor Scott and White Medical Center in Temple, Texas on the Forensic Nurse, Sexual Assault and Violence Response Team.
SESSION 5
Case Analysis | Teresa Devitt Lynch
With the details from a real case, you’ll have an opportunity to evaluate the case and draw some conclusions based on the evidence. You’ll meet fellow attendees in a small group setting. This session will focus on identifying and evaluating the criminal charges levied against the defendant in a domestic violence case.
SESSION 6
Forensic Psychology and Victims | Dr. Jennifer Yeaw
Decipher the interpersonal dynamics of violent relationships to include, why the victims stay in such relationships, why they may feel the need to protect the abuser and reasons victims recant abuse allegations. The psychologist will also touch on the forensic psychologist’s role in the criminal system from a clinical standpoint and as a consultant and expert witness.
Jen Yeaw of Benesh and Yeaw Consulting LLC has extensive experience in forensic and clinical psychology in both the military and civilian sector. She has conducted hundreds of psychological evaluations in forensic and civil settings and regularly participates in criminal proceedings through expert consultation, expert witness testimony, and evaluations for competency, criminal responsibility, and risk/dangerousness. Her professional areas of interest include false confession and police interrogation, malingering, violence risk assessment, insanity defense evaluations, and competency to stand trial evaluations. She also has additional experience conducting psychological autopsies, personnel selection assessments, civil commitment evaluations, and military security clearance, fitness-for-duty, and administrative separation evaluations.
June 10th, 2022 10:30 am-5:30 pm Eastern
SESSION 1
Report Writing | Pat Iyer
Attorneys judge you based on your work product. Are you making mistakes that hurt your reputation and ability to get repeat business? Or are you acing it every time? Discover tips that will make your domestic violence reports be professional.
Learn from an expert who has written thousands of reports. These shortcuts will help you build your business.
Pat Iyer MSN RN LNCC
Starting with her first expert witness report, she’s since written thousands of screening reports, chronologies, expert witness, expert fact witness, analysis and other kinds of reports. Pat is a past president of AALNC and the author or editor of 59 books, primarily for LNCs and attorneys.
SESSION 2
Orthopaedic Injuries |Barbara Levin
“I fell down the steps and broke my leg.” That fall might not be accidental and could result in a variety of complications. In this session, you’ll get a primer on different types of fractures and complications. You'll gain insight into the kinds of elder abuse. You’ll also receive tips on how to interpret the medical records of those who sustained fractures, and how to differentiate between abuse and non-trauma related fractures.
Barbara Levin BSN RN ONC CMSRN LNCC is immediate past chair of the Massachusetts Board of Nursing Registration, a past president of AALNC, and an orthopaedic nursing expert witness. She is the Clinical Scholar of the orthopaedic trauma unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. Barbara has been published on many orthopaedic and legal nursing topics and has collaborated with Pat Iyer on several publications.
SESSION 3
Case Analysis
Based on what you’ve heard, you work in small groups to dig deeper into the case and formulate an opinion based on the information presented.
SESSION 4
Customer Care | Wendy Votroubek
Even the best LNC cannot shine without clients but not everyone has a sharp business mind and could use some tips and suggestions. This LNC business topic will cover such topics as landing and retaining the criminal attorney, logistical tips a business owner could use, dealing with an unreasonable client and firing a client.
Wendy Votroubek is the founder of Integrity Legal Nurse Consulting PDX, which provides legal nurse consulting expertise to translate medical records into real world explanations, whether civil or criminal. Our nurses are specialists in their fields and provide critical review and analysis. We assist our attorneys to understand the medical issues as well as finding the good, bad and the ugly. Criminal defense issues require a skilled forensic nurse to help determine if the record supports the allegations. Integrity nurses dig into the medical and forensic issues and assist attorneys with potential strengths and weaknesses of the attorney’s case.
SESSION 5
The Defense Attorney’s Perspective | Laura Fine Esq
In this discussion, you’ll gain insight about how a defense attorney views different aspects of domestic violence cases from her unique perspective. Topic areas will include how the defense attorney approaches these cases, what happens if the victim recants or refuses to testify, and how the medical evidence is utilized to support their case theory.
Laura A Fine Esq is a Eugene, Oregon criminal defense attorney whose practice includes defending charges related to domestic violence including coercion, assault, kidnapping, and harassment. She has successfully represented hundreds of defendants against all types of misdemeanor and felony charges. For 6 years, Laura defended clients as part of the Public Defender Service.
SESSION 6
Alternatives to Violence | John Bochnowicz
Throughout the conference, you’ll hear about the traumatic injuries from the perspective of the victim. What can be done to help the perpetrator?
Supportive Alliance for Family Empowerment (SAFE Counseling Program, Inc.) is a respected violence prevention and intervention program in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The program is designed to effect positive, internally driven change in individuals at risk for perpetrating violence or convicted of perpetrating violence. SAFE's strategies and tools have been developed through work with perpetrators and victims of violence since 1982.
John Anthony Bochnowicz, Founder and Director of SAFE Counseling Program Inc. holds an M.A. in Rehabilitation Counseling, University of South Florida. He specializes in working with perpetrators and victims of violence - self-referred or court-mandated. Since 1982 John Anthony Bochnowicz has developed and run programs in South Lake Tahoe, California, Reno, Nevada and Bel Air, Maryland to empower men and women to take responsibility for their behavior and to stop the violence in their lives.