Frequently Asked Questions

A Legal Forensic Nurse Consultant is a licensed nursing professional that uses their medical expertise to support and advise the legal team in order to build the strongest case possible.

LFNCs can perform many services to ensure the legal team has professional support for the duration of each case.  Merit screening helps the legal team decipher whether or not a case is worth their time and resources.  Customizable reports and documentation ensure every case has a strong foundation prior to deposition, mediation, or trial.  Locating and vetting expert witnesses from diverse specialties enhance the strength of the case at hand.

Attorneys may retain a physician for this service, but nurses are far better suited to offer behind-the-scenes support to the legal team.  Nurses access medical records every day and are very familiar with how to organize and navigate through them.   This allows nurses to understand the medical jargon found within the records and, just as is done is the hospital daily, use that knowledge to translate the information to someone that is not medically trained.  When doctor's prescribe medication or determine a plan of care, nurses are right there to implement, assess, and evaluate the outcomes.  Nurses are usually the first medical professional to know when something is or isn't working because of the amount of time and attention we provide to our patients.

Nurses possess the skills to make them the perfect professional for behind-the-scenes legal support.  LFNCs are easily accessible by the legal team to answer any questions, fulfill additional service requests, and our turn-around-time is relatively quick.  Physicians spend many hours in the clinic and/or hospital which greatly limits their accessibility, ability to preform critical medical research, or prepare needed valuable documentation.  Working with an LFNC ensures you have ongoing support from start to finish at a fraction of the cost.

An independent Legal Forensic Nurse Consultant has their own business instead of working for someone else.  Being a business owner comes with tremendous responsibility, but also allows the independent LFNC the flexibility and autonomy to remain a valuable part of the legal team.  By working with an independent LFNC, the legal team has access to their expertise and the expertise of their entire team.  Attorneys feel confident knowing they can send all cases with all specialty needs to an independent LFNC because their team is so diverse.  Because the independent LFNC has invested in themselves and their business, their passion and loyalty to their attorney-clients is without comparison.

An in-house LFNC can become a valued member of the legal team as well.  One clear difference is that the law firm carries the ongoing expenses related to the LFNC's ability to perform their job.  The firm supplies this LFNC with a workspace, costs for obtaining medical research and up-to-date evidence-based practices, taxes, insurance, personal time off, benefits, and training.  The in-house LFNC does not work with a team of healthcare professionals which significantly limits their ability to give a reliable professional opinion on cases outside of their professional experience.  

Absolutely! Going to a DME can cause a lot of anxiety for the person attending. Our legal forensic nurses will contact your client in advance to create rapport and instill trust. We also educate your client on what to expect, what questioning is acceptable and how to answer questions during the exam so as not to contradict deposition.

Having a legal forensic nurse present also maintains the integrity of the exam itself. We ensure that only questions related to the sustained injuries are discussed and that the exam is appropriately done based on those injuries.

When physicians get upset at our presence, or when we dismiss inappropriate questioning, it's because they have become accustomed to deviating from the exam to depose clients further for the opposing counsel. This is unacceptable and our LFNCs stand firm with your client to ensure this doesn't happen.

Hiring a legal forensic nurse to consult on your medical cases does create an expense for the firm, but it will save you money in the long run.

1. Because the legal nurse works as a consultant, not an employee, the expense is billable.
2. The  quality of work you'll receive will also assist with increasing settlements because you will get exactly what you need, missing records and red flags will be identified, medical jargon will be explained to use to your advantage, and you will get a list of possible defenses to prepare for from opposing counsel.
3. By having the work done by a legal forensic nurse, it will be done right the first time. This means that when the case goes to trial you will have everything you need to support your client.
4. With the medical review being done by a legal forensic nurse, your legal team will have more time to take on more cases and increase revenue for your firm. If those new cases are medically related, you will already have a legal forensic nurse team ready to work on them for you.

Membership with our Legal Forensic Nurse Counsel does not replace our comprehensive record review services. The membership is a way for our highly skilled team of Legal Forensic Nurse Consultants (LFNCs) to provide assistance to attorneys that either 1) feel their cases do not require comprehensive record reviews or 2) that want peace of mind knowing they have ongoing support between record review services. 

If you are an existing attorney-client of Pacific Nurse Consulting that consistently submits multiple cases each month for our record review services, then Membership probably is not appropriate for you as we provide support to all of our existing clients. 

Contact our office if you are uncertain whether membership is appropriate for you.