| When an attorney takes on a medical-related lawsuit, | | | | important information." |
| the attorney is confronted with enormous volumes of | | | | Young uses the services of Gina Rogers, RN, CLNC |
| medical records crammed with esoteric terminology, | | | | for cases like Heather's. "My assignment," says |
| inexplicable shorthand and indecipherable handwriting. | | | | Rogers, "was to document this child's pain and |
| Yet his client's (plaintiff or defense) future depends on | | | | suffering. In addition to summarizing the records, I |
| the attorney understanding those records and using | | | | decided 'a picture is worth a thousand words.' I created |
| them to support the case effectively. That's why | | | | a detailed graph of her body indicating all the burns and |
| Certified Legal Nurse Consultant services are the | | | | skin grafts. My completed graph showed that there |
| healthiest thing that will ever happen to an attorney's | | | | was hardly an undamaged place on her body." |
| practice. | | | | "Two major factors in this case," says Young, "were |
| Total confidence in the services and support provided | | | | the enormous pain and suffering Heather had to deal |
| by a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant is especially | | | | with and the problems she would face in the future. |
| important when taking on a formidable opponent, such | | | | Gina set forth all the pain medications my client |
| as a major international corporation. Bob Young, an | | | | received during the three weeks she was in the |
| attorney with English, Lucas, Priest and Owsley, a | | | | hospital. Gina also prepared a detailed list of Heather's |
| major personal injury firm in south central Kentucky, | | | | potential future health problems." |
| faced this challenge when he accepted the case of | | | | Instead of sending the defendant thousands of pages |
| Heather Norman.* | | | | of medical records, Young sent them Gina's report, |
| In 2001, the 12-year-old was severely burned in a | | | | including the dramatic graph of the plaintiff's injuries. |
| motor vehicle accident that killed her mother and | | | | "Gina's work was a significant part of the settlement |
| brother. "The truck's side-saddle gasoline tanks | | | | brochure," he says. The case settled for an |
| exploded upon impact," Young says, "leaving Heather | | | | undisclosed amount. |
| with second and third degree burns over 25% of her | | | | Consulting an Independent Certified Legal Nurse |
| body, including her back, chest, arms, hands and face. | | | | Consultant Is Like Having a Nurse on Staff Without the |
| She had three surgeries to receive skin grafts and | | | | Full-time Expense - For the last three years Young has |
| underwent numerous other medical procedures. She | | | | used Rogers' services on almost every |
| spent three weeks in the hospital, plus more than a | | | | medical-related case. "It's like having a nurse on staff |
| month as an out patient receiving daily wound care | | | | without the full-time expense," he says. "The most |
| and occupational therapy." Young filed a products | | | | important thing Gina does is help me screen each |
| liability suit against the truck manufacturer on Heather's | | | | case to see if it's worth taking. In every medical |
| behalf. | | | | malpractice case you have to retain a medical doctor |
| Medical cases like this can generate thousands of | | | | to testify to the standards of care. After Gina reviews |
| pages of records. "If I try to sift through the records | | | | the case, we discuss whether to retain a very |
| and put together a summary," says Young, "it might or | | | | expensive MD. Often we decide not to take that next |
| might not be accurate. I'm not trained in the medical | | | | step. If we do take the case, Gina has a network of |
| field. It makes sense to have someone with medical | | | | doctors so she helps me find the expert, too." |
| training go through the records and decipher the | | | | *Name has been changed. |