Medical Malpractice? or Poor Outcome?

This is never an easy area to explore with a patient. I usually do not have all the information at hand to give an accurate assessment of their medical care. I usually try to give some explanation of the course of events based on the information at hand, but I tell them I do not have all of the needed details to be accurate. I also try to be reassuring to them, if possible, and try to set their minds at ease.

This is an area where a Legal Nurse Consultant, as an experienced, educated professional of nursing and law, could fill a much needed gap between the patient, the family and the healthcare community.

Detailed review of the medical records, and the appropriate research needed to support an opinion are the Legal Nurse Consultants areas of expertise.

This expertise is generally available to attorney's and insurance companies, but there is a great need for this kind of service in the private sector as well. Directly assisting patients and their families in deciding if legal assistance is needed, or, if they choose not to seek legal counsel, having available to them a knowledgable and accurate review of the care given, would allow these individuals to come to some kind of closure.

In a majority of cases, care given to patients is appropriate and meets or exceeds the medical standards of care. Understanding the medical/healthcare system is just too complicated and time consuming however, for the average person. An Legal Nurse Consultant directly invoved with patients and families would change the landscape of our medical, nursing and healthcare environments.