Legal Nurse Consulting

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The Role of the Legal Nurse Consultant

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

The Legal Nurse

What is the role of the legal nurse consultant?  A legal nurse consultant (or simply an LCN) is a certified registered nurse who makes use of his or her background experience as a health care provider in order to offer advice to legal experts and attorneys, about various issues of the law that involve the medical field. The legal nurse uses his or her expertise to review medical records, analyze medical information and then offer her informed opinion to attorneys. Despite the fact that the job of legal nurse consultant has been around for roughly three decades, it has already become one of the most sought-after jobs in the medical field.
A legal nurse consultant can offer advice in a wide range of fields, from wrongful death and personal injury to products liability, sexual assault and even criminal defense cases. Due to the fact that they are familiar with medical terminology and code of conduct, legal nurses often assist lawyers in reading the medical records, for a better understanding of the case. Nonetheless, in order to offer professional advice in legal matters that involve the medical field a nurse must have specialized law training prior to that.

An Overview Of The Duties Of A Legal Nurse Consultant

The legal nurse has a wealth of duties and responsibilities: the nurse has to interview medical experts and must act as an intermediary between medical experts and the law firms that deal with a medical trial – in some cases, the nurse even has to talk to the family of the victim and explain them the situation. Based on her expertise and specialized training, the nurse should also research the medical literature and even come up with case theories that will help lawyers solve the case quickly and without the hassles.
As a health care working professional with solid experience in the field, the nurse should also identify any deviations from the medical standards of care and determine whether they played any role in the case. Analyzing the medical records of the victim and discussing with various other medical professionals are also part of the duties of a legal nurse consultant.
In some cases, the legal nurses might even be asked to testify at trials as expert witnesses and to create extended and detailed medical reports that will be presented in court – the purpose of these reports is to outline the medical implications that lead to the accusation of personal injury, products liability and such.
Last, but not least, the legal nurse not only uses the existing expertise to analyze a case and decide whether it was the plaintiff’s or the defendant fault in a case, but also to consult and educate the clients on certain medical and nursing matters of utmost importance.
Legal nurse consulting is a respected nursing specialty, and in order to be able to practice her job, a legal nurse consultant should enroll in various training courses and certification programs such as the program offered by the American College of Legal Nurse Consulting. Moreover, Legal nurses can work in a wide range of settings, varying from insurance companies and government agencies to hospitals – in some cases; they might even choose to work in an independent practice office.

Expert Witnesses

As mentioned above, the role of the Legal nurse is also to be an expert witness, to assist the plaintiff by reviewing the case and offering pertinent information from sophisticated medical records. This is often required in cases of personal injury or medical malpractice, and the nurse also has to create a chronological summary of the facts, for a batter understanding. In other words, the nurse will provide expert opinion and will testify in court.

Nursing Malpractice

Legal nurses are frequently called upon to provide an entire case review and analysis on cases of alleged negligence in nursing practice. In this capacity the legal nurse consultant reviews all applicable standards of nursing care related to a case and identifies deviations from these established standards of nursing care.  This allows the legal nurse and the legal team to identify deviations and potential issues of negligence in practice.
A key here is also establishing damages sustained by the client. As you can see, the role of the legal nurse is critical to trying and also defending nursing malpractice cases. The legal nurse may act as a consultant for the case or as the expert providing testimony on the cases as related to standards of nursing care.

Product Liability

In case of medical malpractice, legal nurse consultants will use their extensive clinical experience to determine whether defective medical devices or medical products are to blame in a particular case. This involves the intake of client information and the thorough analysis of medical records to determine product liability, if case. If the plaintiff suffered an injury caused by a dangerous defective product, it is the duty of the nurse to point that out in court.

Conclusion

To sum it up, all the duties and responsibilities mentioned above make the legal nurse consultant a specialized and important member of the litigation team, and his or her work is vital for achieving a just outcome both for the plaintiff and the defendant.
Are you interested in becoming a Legal Nurse Consultant? If so, you must first be a Registered Nurse and have clinical practice experience in nursing. You will then want to complete a comprehensive program designed to educate and train legal nurses to go into practice. One such program is offered by the American College of Legal Nurse Consulting. This program is very comprehensive and consists of four core modules of training. Each module requires testing and successful score attainment to move on to the next module. When all four of the learning modules and courses have been completed, the Registered Nurse receives national certification as a Certified Specialist in Legal Nurse Consulting. You may preview full information on the program by visiting the website: Legal Nurse Consulting Certification

Legal Nurse Consulting Can Help With Personal Injury

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Legal Nurse Consulting Can Help You Choose The Right Lawyer.

If you are in the middle of a personal injury lawsuit, you may feel a bit overwhelmed and hopeless. You must be sure that you learn all you can about this situation, and that’s what this article aims to assist you with. Continue reading for more tips on preparing a winning case.
Choose a lawyer you like. You don’t need to stay with one that you don’t get along with just because that person knows what they’re doing. If you don’t get along with them, you won’t win your case.  Legal nurse consulting can help you understand the medical terms so you can make your choice correctly.
You should not move your vehicle after an accident unless a law enforcement officer tells you to. Moving the car can lead to more damage, leaving you at least partially liable. When it’s in a busy street’s intersection, that’s the only exception.
If you receive injuries in a car crash or while at work, get yourself a lawyer right away. Time is important with this kind of suit. When you hire a lawyer quickly, he will be able to help you gather photographic evidence, take witness statements, and interview parties involved.
Prepare yourself before meeting with your lawyer. When they work on contingency, this is even more important. Your lawyer will only get money if you get a favorable ruling, so it is possible they may turn your case away if you don’t have adequate information. Bring everything needed with you.   Also talk to a legal nurse as well to get a medical point of view.
Save all receipts related to your personal injury expenses. You can use these items to show how much money you had to pay as a result of your injury. If you don’t keep these, the court may not reimburse this money.
Take your time choosing your personal injury lawyer. Often people will rush to choose a lawyer to represent them. This is almost always a mistake. There could be a superior lawyer that may be better for you. Do some research and interview a good selection of lawyers before you choose one to represent you.
If you’re handling your case yourself, you must locate every policy that the at fault party owns. Perhaps you can make multiple claims. If the at-fault party will not willingly give you the information, you can compel the court to order them to do so.   Lastly make sure you get advice from a legal nurse consultant.
Never hire a lawyer off the TV. This is not a good way to judge if a lawyer is competent. If you want to consider such a lawyer, be sure you research them thoroughly before making an appointment. Failing to do this may sabotage your case, costing you even more money and making it impossible to hire a talented lawyer.
When you’re thinking of getting a personal injury lawyer, pick out one that is close by. This person and you will be spending lots of time together, therefore, the more convenient his office location is, the better it will be for you. Email and phone calls just won’t cut it for some types of needed conversation.
Before choosing a lawyer, do your research about them. Various firms and lawyers deal with certain cases, and you also need to look at their history. Hire someone that is familiar with cases like yours.
Assist your lawyer in finding holes in the other party’s story when dealing with a court case. If you can prove the other side is lying your case becomes very easy to win. These lies will make the judge or jury doubtful of their entire case, and cause your side to be much more believable.
Hopefully you now have a much better understanding of what can be done to help you build your personal injury case. You have to get started on hiring a lawyer, so use the tips that you have learned to help you do that. It’s time to get going now, so get to work!
If you are interested in online continuing health care education, you should take a look at our website.

Legal Nurse Consulting and Radiology Malpractice Statistics

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Legal Nurse Consultants and Radiology Malpractice

The chance of a health care provider being sued is always high and realistic.  Legal nurse consultants can help in cases where there is legitimate case or even defend the health care provider if they feel the patient is in the wrong.  One such area is radiology.  Below is research on malpractice within radiology.

The article, “The demography of medical malpractice suits against radiologists.”, by Department of Radiology, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School states

“PURPOSE: To delimit demographic characteristics of malpractice claims against radiologists in the United States by sex and location and to note the varying percentages of favorable outcomes and award amounts to plaintiffs by state.”

To read the article click here

If you are interested in taking Legal Nurse Consulting Courses, please click here

AIHCP

Legal Nurses Can Help One With Social Security and Disability Claims

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Legal Nurses Consultants Can Help One Through the Maze of  the Social Security Disability Program
Legal Nurses!  The Social Security Disability program is operated by the Social Security Disability Administration that caters to provide financial assistance to those people who are physically or mentally disabled. General tax revenues fund this program and it is so designed that both the disabled person as well as their family members get its benefit. In simpler term the Social Security Disability service can be defined as an insurance program that provides benefits to the insured disabled person if he has been paying his social security taxes.  Certified Legal Nurse Consultants can be of a great service in understanding the complexity of this system and in some cases even help someone who is being unjustly denied a claim.
A very important criteria for this insurance claim to be accepted is that the aggrieved party, who is the person asking for the claim, has to be totally disabled, i.e., he should be unable to do any of the works he had been doing earlier. Also a person with a short term disability or a partial disability will not be qualified to claim the insurance money. Another criterion is that the disability should have lasted for more than one year and that it must have resulted in death. Only if these criterions are met with, only in that condition the claim can be made.
There is a five step procedure that is needed to be met up with first. The applicant has to face a question at each level. He will be asked about certain areas that include his current employment status, the severity of his condition, whether he meets with the criteria presented by the Social Security Disability system and whether the applicant is in a position to do the work he had been doing previously.
The Social Security Disability benefit is a struggle in its own right since all the criteria of the system needs to meet up in order to claim the benefits. Though the Social Security Disability administration claims that they receive applications from among ten to twelve million people every year, more than half of them are rejected in the first step. The entire process takes a lot of time and is full of hassles. Although it takes less than four months for a strong claim to get accepted, for the others you will need to reapply and then it will again start from process one, thereby taking most of your time and actually taking more than one or two years to finally settle down either in your favor or the administration’s. Before claiming the insurance money, it is always better to go through the Social Security Disability website and see what all criteria’s are needed to be provided. You need to prepare yourself beforehand for this. Make a list of whatever you need and ensure that you take all the necessary documents along with you to their office. You really need to file the Social Security Disability claim as soon as possible.
As already mentioned, the process actually takes a lot of time and hence it is absolutely necessary to work in advance. Be extremely cautious while filing up the form since a majority of the claims are denied by just looking at incomplete forms. Therefore check the form twice and is needed thrice to ensure that no place is left blank, all the spaces are filled correctly and that nowhere in the forms do the claims disparage with one another.  Again this where the service of a legal nurse consultant or other health and legal professional can be invaluable.
While checking on the form your updated medical reports are keenly examined since that is the place where you can be denied of your claim. Therefore make sure that you keep visiting the doctor regularly and do not forget to collect medical reports from them since they are the evidences on which your case will stay. Also during the entire process if you get a respond mail from them, immediately reply to it. Also remember that in case of any query or assistance during the trial period, do not call the Social Security Disability center since they would not answer any of your query. Instead call the Disability Determination Services who are the most appropriate people to answer them.
If somehow the claim gets denied, ensure that you are appealing with the Social Security Administration within sixty days of getting the denial letter. You can then take the matter up to the tribunal court through an attorney and your case will get decided then. Also remember that there are no limits to the number of times you can apply for the claim. Therefore if being denied previously, if after five years you feel that your case is more stronger, you can definitely apply then. The Social Security Disability is after all, programmed to help the needs of those who cannot help themselves.
Legal Nurse Consultants can help one through this difficult gauntlet.  Doing it by oneself can lead one to waisted time and lost funds.  The aide of Legal Nurse is extremely important and should be considered by the elderly and those who have little understanding of the system.
If you are interested in certifications in legal nurse consulting, please review the program.

AIHCP

Legal Nursing and Product Liability

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

The Legal Nurse: Understanding Product Liability

Legal nurse consultants are working today in cases involving legal nursing related product liability. Many people share a common misconception that the only proof that is required in product liability cases is prove regarding product defect and injury to the plaintiff. This is entirely not the case as the process is a little bit more complicated and specialized than that. In fact, product liability law suits are more expensive and complicated compared to other kinds of lawsuits. This article presents a good review of the issues surrounding product liability claims of negligence. Legal nurses will appreciate this quick review and incorporate the information into their practices.
For instance, in a typical product liability case, industry expert witnesses in the field that is in question have to be consulted for them to help prove that a particular product was indeed defective. They normally do this using a number of ways. It is important to note that there are many ways in which the experts can prove that a fault existed in a product liability law suit. The main ways of proving negligence include; through inaction or negligent acts; through strict liability; breach of warranty and fraud.

Inaction or negligent acts

If a lawsuit alleges that there is product liability negligence, then there are four main elements that have to be proven for the lawsuit to be successful. First and foremost, there must be proof of duty of care owed to the plaintiff by the defendant. For the case to be successful, the duty of care owed to the plaintiff has to have been breached thus resulting in injury to the plaintiff. Finally, a causal link has to exist between the resulting harm and the defendant’s actions which caused breach of duty.
In summary, it is important for the legal nurse  to understand the part of the case where inaction or acts of negligence applies to is basically anything that relates to the product in question before it reaches the market. It is however important to note that for product liability cases, it is very difficult to prove acts of negligence on the part of the defendant whether through a failure to act (omission) or a positive act. The basis or concern therefore of most product liability law suits is strict liability.

Strict Liability

As discussed above the only element that has to be proven in product liability lawsuits is strict liability i.e. if the product in question had defect/s that caused harm or injury to the plaintiff. For a product liability lawsuit to be successful in terms of proving strict liability, there needs to be no requirement for element of negligence. Also, there needs to be no proof of fault. This basically means that all a manufacturer has to have done is to make the product within the reach of consumers. By supplying the product/s in question to consumers, this has the direct effect of making available or bringing into question all the faults of all parties involved in manufacturing and distributing to the consumer. The manufacturer therefore bares the responsibilities related to the defect/s.
It therefore follows that manufactures should bare the greatest responsibility because they have the greatest control over their products. Manufactures have however argued against this strict liability clause on negligence in product liability law suits. For instance, manufacturers have argued that they should not be held accountable in cases where information came up after the product’s in question manufacture.

Deceit

Deceit is also an important factor among what must be proven for there to be negligence in product liability law suits. In the case of deceit, the manufacture or the seller has to have communicated truthful information to the consumer about products that are misleading or false for a case to be ruled in favor of the manufacturer/seller. If by any means a manufacturer communicates inaccurate information in order to make sure that a consumer doesn’t find harm in a certain product, then by all means, the responsibility will fall on the manufacturer. If on the other hand the consumer still goes ahead and ignores the warnings of the manufacturer and goes ahead to suffer injury as a result, then it is by no means the responsibility of the manufacturer.

Breach of Warranty

A product liability case also has to prove breach of warranty to stand trial and sentencing. If a product liability case is based on any form of breach of warranty, then the plaintiff has to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant was responsible for causing the injury by asserting that the product/s in question was harmless or free of any defects yet the defendant failed to confirm/ensure that the products were indeed free of defects.
This kind of a claim is unique and different from claims such as strict liability or negligent acts because the claim is directly related to broking a contractual promise and not inaccurate information like in the case of deceit. It is important to note that in the case of breach of warranty, a promise has to be made either implicitly or explicitly as part of the contract. When a certain promise regarding a product is implied, it has to relate either to the failure to ensure that a certain product is capable of functioning, or that that product will be able to work or serve a specific purpose.
Conclusion
In summary, to be able to prove negligence in a product liability case, there has to be evidence that a manufacturer/supplier holds the responsibility of selling a safe or harmless product. Proving this is easy because all businesses that are tasked with the responsibility of manufacturing and distributing consumer goods have to make sure that they provide safe goods that have warnings in case the goods pose any danger. Also, for a product liability case to be successful, there has to be negligence prove i.e. the seller violating the responsibility to offer safe/harmless products up to the point the consumer gets the goods. This basically means that there has to be proof of a breach of warranty. Lastly a product liability case based on negligence has to prove that the harm or injury was directly caused by the product in question and not any other factors such as sickness. By proving the existence of all the above factors, a product liability law suit will stand a chance. Legal nurse consultants are providing excellent consultations in product liability cases as they relate to medical/health care products. For those registered nurses interesting in learning more about this practice specialty, click here: legal nurse consulting program.

What is Legal Nursing?

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

What is Legal Nursing and What Does a  Professional Legal Nurse Do?

A nurse holding a clipboard
Legal Nursing can be a great career move!

Are you seeking some education, and you need to find the right college? Well if this is the case, and for instance, you want to look up legal nursing you would simply look online for the right college to provide you with the prerequisites and required courses that it requires for you to get this degree. There are many types of degrees that you can look for, and without the Internet, this would be a very difficult task to actually find the right position that you are looking for. Always be sure and discover the information that applies to you in regards to this very subject and always know that there is so much education to be absorbed and applied to with the subject. So, whatever you do, make sure you take advantage of the information that is out there so that you can acquire the position that you are looking for foreign occupation. So are you still wondering what is legal nursing?

Why Nurses Need Malpractice Insurance

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

The Legal Nurse

The legal nurse provides information for legal nurse consultants as well as registered nurses in areas of nursing malpractice, as well as other legal issues.
By: Janet Kress
Being a nurse is one of the most rewarding jobs a person can have. A nurse can save a person’s life, help someone recover from a surgery or even help a sick child. There are many nursing jobs available, the pay is amazing and the benefits are very good. However, a nurse can be held liable for anything that happens while they are on their shift. This is why nurses need malpractice insurance. If the time occurs when a nurse is being named in a lawsuit, even if it is unfounded, they will have to deal with a plethora of legal fees, worry about a ruined reputation or fear losing their job. This can all be dealt with if the person has nursing malpractice insurance.
The cost of having this insurance is negligible when one considers the amount of money a lawsuit can cost. Most people think that their employer will be covering any malpractice claims while they are on the job. However, most nurses do not realize that their employer’s insurance has the minimal amount of coverage for them. Sometimes their employer’s insurance might not even cover them in a malpractice lawsuit. This is because their insurance plans are tailored to their specific needs. It doesn’t make sense for them to cover their employees if they will not be held liable. Typically if a nurse is covered by their insurance, it will be for a miniscule amount. It is always important to know how much an employer’s insurance will cover and even if it seems good, there will be some drawbacks.
Even if an employer’s coverage is satisfactory, there is another big issue that could occur. They can decide to sue a nurse for all of the money they were held liable for if the nurse was indeed negligent. This greatly varies from place to place and some might provide adequate insurance for their staff. However, if the place of work is having financial issues and goes bankrupt, they might not have the means to pay for the nurse’s insurance anymore. This is why it is so important for a nurse to have their own personal malpractice insurance.
Circumstances can change greatly if a person has a hearing with the Board of Nursing. This will often happen when a nurse’s license is at risk of being revoked. This can be devastating because their livelihood could be at stake. Policies often have License Protection which will cover all of the costs associated with defending a nurse’s license to the board.
In the past, many nurses did not get insurance because it would actually extend lawsuits against them. Before nurses were paid the wages they are now, lawyers would typically drop their names from lawsuits. They knew that they did not have the funds to pay any settlements. Unfortunately, this has been spread around the nursing industry and people believe it is better to not have insurance for themselves. Lawyers have recently changed their mindset and will try to get any money a nurse may have. If found guilty, a person can lose any money in their savings accounts, be forced to sell their homes or even claim bankruptcy.
When getting insurance, a person needs to understand their policy completely. Knowing exactly what is covered will ensure that any negligence claims are handled hassle free. The most common coverage will include:
Liability: This will cover any charges, up to a certain amount, accrued by a lawsuit stemming from any medical incidents that might occur.
License Protection: When a lawsuit is brought against an individual, they might have to face the board of nursing. This will cover any costs, up to the limit in the policy, defending a nurse to the board.
Personal Injury Protection: This will cover any costs from claims of slander, libel, assault or even battery.
Although these are the basic coverage options available, there may be additional options that each insurance agency provides. Nurses, no matter how good they are, can all benefit from covering themselves with malpractice insurance. It is important to choose a policy that allows the holder to choose their own lawyers and does not cap the hourly rate that they are allowed to be paid. This will ensure that a nurse can find and afford the best possible attorney. Even if a lawsuit is dropped, a nurse without insurance would have to pay their lawyer’s fees.
Would you like more information on legal nurse consultant training? Access here.

Legal Nurses Can Protect You From Insurance Giants

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

Legal Nurses Can Protect Your Rights

Is your insurance company permitted to have access to your medical records? Do you know if they are reviewing the intimate details of your medical history and care? The answer to this is yes and in many cases it takes a legal nurse to help you.
Federal law allows this. This occurs because hospitals that receive Medicare reimbursements must participate in a Peer Review Organization System. This system provides for quality of care review to insure patients are receiving appropriate care. Hospitals must contract with a peer review organization. The peer review organization then selects patient care cases and does review of care via documentation in the medical record. The review organization in particular assess the reasonableness of the care provided as well as the adequacy of care received. While these organizations are not permitted to release your medical records to any third parties, still their employees do have access to your medical information.
Consumers should be made aware of this fact. Often, the patient has no idea who may have access to their private medical documentation. If you have questions about this, you can seek the consultation of a registered legal nurse who can provide you with more information

A Legal Nurse Consultant

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

A Legal Nurse Consultant

A  legal nurse consultant is a registered nurse that has been extensively educated and trained in the area of health care malpractice law. They come to this position with extensive backgrounds in health care, nursing and care delivery. Their health care knowledge and skills provides them a real opportunity to be of great asset in cases of malpractice. Many law firms and self-employed lawyers are seeking the services of legal nurse consultants to assist in them in preparing for litigation of cases. The nurse works to assist the lawyers in understanding medical terms and conditions and diagnostic procedures. They review patients’ medical records and also identify deviations from the standards of care. Lawyers find that they are invaluable in assisting in such cases. Their presence in the legal world is becoming more solid. More nurses are entering this field of specialization today. The curriculums for education are very intense and the nurses spend a great deal of time studying the elements of malpractice related to deviations in the standards of care.

A group of lawyers discussing a case at a table
Legal Nurse Consultants work with lawyers everyday.

Elements of Health Care Malpractice

Posted on by Dominick Flarey

The Legal Nurse

Medical or Health Care malpractice can be defined as a professional negligence by a medical professional i.e. a doctor, a surgeon, a nurse or any other healthcare professionals that results in emotional or physical harm to a patient. Medical malpractices come in many forms. For instance, a medical malpractice can be as a result of an act or an omission of a necessary act or care that eventually harms a patient.

 The four elements of medical malpractice

There are four main elements that have to be proven in any given medical malpractice case. These elements include; duty, breach of duty, damage and cause. These elements have to be assessed for a medical malpractice case to be determined.
1. Duty
Duty as the name suggests refers to the doctor patient, or health care provider relationship whereby a duty exists for the doctor to treat a patient according to the set professional code of conduct and practice. For a medical malpractice case to be determined, there must have been a given duty owed (to a patient) by a given healthcare practitioner i.e. doctor, nurse, pharmacist e.t.c charged with the care of a patient. The doctor-patient relationship is a common example of a situation where that duty would exist. A good example of a malpractice based solely under duty is when there is delayed treatment which is treatment that over four hours late. In such a case the duty owed is breached by a responsible party. It is however important to note that a medical malpractice case has to prove that all the four elements exist for it to qualify as a legal medical malpractice case.

 2. Breach of duty

Breach of duty in medical malpractice occurs in cases where a healthcare professional who has been charged with the responsibility/duty of care for a given patient fails in his or her duty by failing to exercise a certain acceptable degree of care or a given medical skill that any other healthcare professional practiseing in the same capacity or specialty would be able to give or address in equal circumstances. Such medical malpractices considered when an expert or experts in similar fields confirm that the professional should have been able to adhere to the set standard of care as required. A medical malpractice example based on breach of duty may include a practitioner i.e. a doctor failing to prescribe standard medication that may have serious health implications on a patient. A medical malpractice case has to proof that a practitioner breached their duty for compensation among the other elements for the case to qualify.

 3. Damage

In cases of medical malpractice damage, the patient has to have suffered either physical or emotional injury while under the care of a given healthcare professional/practitioner. This is among the most common element that dominates medical malpractice cases. For instance a medical practitioner i.e. a doctor may have operated a patient without following the set code/standards which eventually results in physical injury. A good example would be to operate on a patient and causing more new injuries that were not there initially or aggravation an existing injury. A medical malpractice case has to prove that the medical practitioner caused the new damage or aggravated as well as proof the existence of the elements for a case to qualify for hearing which can eventually lead to a patient wining the medical malpractice case and eventually getting compensated.

 4. Cause

The last element of medical malpractice is cause. For a medical malpractice legal case, there has to be concrete/solid proof that a given medical practitioner/professional directly caused a patient injury. Like all the above elements, the cause of injury must be as a result of all the above elements i.e. a breach of duty, duty and damage causing injury to a patient. Such medical malpractice cases are also common for instance when a doctor or a pharmacist prescribes the wrong medicine to a patient and then the patient takes the prescribed medicines and falls ill. The ’cause’ has to be proved in a medical malpractice case.
In conclusion, a successful medical malpractice lawsuit has to prove the existence of all four elements mentioned above four elements. If a healthcare practitioner being sued is able to prove that none of the elements exists, then the medical malpractice case is dropped.
Are you interested in becoming a Legal Nurse? If you are a registered nurse than you may qualify to enter a legal nurse consulting program. Legal nurse consulting is a highly rewarding career specialty for nurses and continues to be in high demand in our country. If you would like to learn more about a legal nurse courses and programs, click here.