Legal Nurse Consultant Division

LEGAL NURSE CONSULTING

What is a legal nurse consultant?
A legal nurse consultant (LNC) is a licensed registered nurse who performs a critical analysis of healthcare facts and issues and their outcomes for the legal profession, healthcare professions, and others, as appropriate. With a strong educational and experiential background, the legal nurse consultant is qualified to assess adherence to standards of healthcare practice as it applies to the nursing and healthcare professions.

Some of the activities LNCs may perform include:

• identify standards of care, causation, and damage issues
• conduct client interviews; research and summarize medical literature
• prepare chronologies of medical events and compare and correlate them to the allegations
• educate attorneys regarding medical facts and issues relevant to the case
• locate, retain, and confer with expert witnesses
• initial case screening for strengths and weaknesses
• organize medical records
• assist with depositions and trials
• identify regulatory requirements
• act as a liaison between attorneys, physicians, and clients

Where do legal nurse consultants practice?
LNCs practice in a variety of settings including law firms (plaintiff and defense), independent practice, insurance companies, government offices, and risk management departments.

What types of cases need an LNC?
LNCs provide support in medically-related litigation and other medical-legal matters in the following areas: medical negligence or malpractice; personal injury; product liability; toxic torts; worker’s compensation; risk management; medical licensure investigation; fraud, abuse and compliance issues; criminal law; elder law; and other applicable cases.

For more information about the specialty practice of legal nurse consulting, please visit the web site for our professional nursing organization, the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants, at www.aalnc.org.

[Information about Legal Nurse Consulting was adapted from “What is a Legal Nurse Consultant?” published by the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants, 2001. The definition of a legal nurse consultant can also be found in the bylaws of the LNC Section of the WVBA, Article III, Section I.]