Nurses In The Law Firm: A new breed of quasi-legal professionals is emerging

Statistics show that the number of lawsuits filed in federal court in the last year remained fairly steady. What changed was the type of lawsuit filed. Products liability cases are on the upswing and now make up nearly ten percent of all federal civil filings. Of those cases, more than 90 percent are related to personal injury. Pharmaceutical and medical device companies now face numerous lawsuits. Given this trend, it is clear that the type of documents being produced has also changed.

Medical Records

When your practice is in products liability, toxic tort, medical malpractice, or personal injury, medical records are vital to your case. And it is essential that you understand what those records say. While you traditionally may have relied on the staff you have on hand to review the records, it may be time to rethink that strategy. A new breed of quasi-legal professional is emerging. They are legal nurses -- and they are taking on work previously reserved for physicians and lawyers and saving everyone involved thousands of dollars, while allowing your legal professionals to focus on the issues of law.

Just as firms welcomed paralegals years ago, they are now welcoming nurses. More and more firms are choosing to hire nurses to manage medical record libraries and report to attorneys on medical record content. Many can also perform traditional paralegal tasks. Using nurses in your practice will not only save you time but also provide you with medical expertise at a very reasonable cost.

Nurses can review the medical records for relevance cutting back the volume of materials you send to your medical experts, thereby saving you time and money. They can create chronologies and summaries that you and your experts can use to navigate through the records. In addition, they are less likely to miss important pieces of information that may be overlooked by those who are not familiar with reviewing medical documents, which avoids costly errors. Your attorneys and paralegals are excellent resources in your practice. But when you have medical records, they are not as proficient at understanding and analyzing the content as professionals who have worked in hospitals and medical departments for years.

The legal nursing profession is flourishing. Certification programs are popping up across the country offering nurses an alternative to traditional medical employment. Many colleges and universities, including some nursing schools, offer paralegal certificates or bachelor’s degrees in paralegal studies; several of these programs have been approved by the American Bar Association (ABA). As you go forward with your decision to use nurses in your practice, you will quickly find there are many options available. Depending on what you prefer to have nurses do, you can decide whether you need a Nurse Paralegal, a Legal Nurse Consultant (LNC), or a Registered Nurse.

Nurse Paralegals

Nurse paralegals are typically nurses who have attended a paralegal training program. Because of their legal training, many nurse paralegals are able to perform traditional paralegal tasks, in addition to reviewing the medical records. These can include cite checking, researching legal issues, interviewing clients, acting as liaisons to medical experts, locating medical experts, preparing for and attending depositions, and drafting interrogatories, requests for productions, and requests for admissions.

Legal Nurse Consultants

Nurses interested in working in the legal community can do so as an LNC. Attendance in LNC certification programs is rapidly growing. LNCs graduate from these programs with the intention of starting their own businesses. Associations including the American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants (AALNC) as well as local organizations have been established to promote the profession. An increasing number of LNC college and university programs are being approved or sanctioned by the ABA.

LNCs do not consider themselves paralegals but use their medical knowledge to assist on cases. The more legal experience they acquire, the more valuable they can become in quickly analyzing a case from not only a medical perspective, but a legal perspective as well. Some LNCs consider themselves experts and will provide deposition testimony or testify in court.

Registered Nurses

Registered nurses (RNs) with several years of clinical experience are excellent candidates for medical record review and may be all you really need. They can decipher physicians’ notes, translate medical abbreviations into plain English, define medical terminology, record prescriptions, and give an overview of what the records say. Most are comfortable providing an initial assessment regarding whether the records reflect an appropriate medical standard of care.

While it is true that there is a nursing shortage in hospitals and doctors’ offices, it is due in large part to nurses leaving the profession. That trend provides the legal community with access to talented nurses interested in a new career, and gives you a new way to control escalating litigation costs.