The Tragedy

Late one Friday afternoon Susan, RN, BSN, CLNC received a call from an insurance defense attorney asking her to review a plaintiff’s medical records. On Monday morning, with the deposition just 24 hours away, the attorney sent Susan four volumes of medical records documenting ten years of the plaintiff’s medical history.

Here are the facts of the case:

1. The defendant had agreed to be the designated driver when she and a group of friends went out partying.

2. On the way home from the second bar the defendant driver, who had not been drinking, hit a tree.

3. Everyone except the plaintiff had on seat belts and walked away from the accident.

4. The unrestrained plaintiff suffered a fractured vertebra that was repaired surgically.

5. He claimed the injuries sustained in the accident totally disabled him and were the sole cause of his weakness, fatigue and inability to work.

Certified Legal Nurse Consultant’s Analysis Revealed a Very Different Picture

Few attorneys know how to read medical records or understand the terminology and subtleties of healthcare issues to achieve the best results for their clients. A Certified Legal Nurse Consultant bridges that gap in the attorney’s knowledge. While the attorney is the expert on legal issues, the CLNC® consultant is the expert on nursing, the healthcare system and its inner workings.

In this case, the Certified Legal Nurse Consultant’s grasp of the plaintiff’s pre-existing conditions enabled her to discover that his claims of injury were suspect. His extensive medical file revealed:

- He had a long history of HIV and had complained of fatigue on several occasions.

- Prior to the accident he was on AZT, Combivir and Bacofen. These medications have
numerous side effects, including weakness, fatigue, headaches, dizziness and muscle breakdown.

- He had chronic hepatitis, which also contributed to his weakness, fatigue and malaise.

- Because of the hepatitis, his treating doctor had documented that the plaintiff was not to drink. Yet his blood alcohol level was significantly elevated when he arrived at the emergency room following the accident.

Services Offered By Certified Legal Nurse Consultants That Help Attorneys

In addition to reviewing medical records, Certified Legal Nurse Consultants:

- Identify applicable standards of care

- Develop case chronologies and timelines

- Prepare summaries of the extent of injury or illness

- Conduct research on various case issues

- Locate expert witnesses

…and many other services.

In this case, Susan interpreted the records, prepared an in-depth review of the plaintiff’s pre-existing conditions, wrote deposition questions, attended the deposition and helped prepare the attorney for mediation.

The straightforward questions she proposed came directly from her basic nursing assessment skills. Despite their simplicity, the attorney considered them strokes of genius.

During deposition the plaintiff stated that prior to the accident he was fine and had no complaints. Armed with the Certified Legal Nurse Consultant’s report, the defense attorney was well prepared to dispute this testimony. He used her questions to draw out inconsistencies in the plaintiff’s story:

1. Describe the onset, location, duration and severity of your pain.

2. When did these symptoms start?

3. Did you have any of these problems before the accident?

Certified Legal Nurse Consultant Saved Defendant Millions of Dollars on Settlement

Mediation was set for the next day. The plaintiff attorney stated that his client was severely injured during this accident and the defendant was responsible. He demanded $5,000,000 from the defendant above the $500,000 policy limits.
In response, the defense attorney clearly related the plaintiff’s ongoing complaints to his long history of HIV and hepatitis, the side effects of his medications and his noncompliance with his physician’s orders. As Susan had discovered, these facts had been documented in the medical record long before the accident, and his complaints were therefore not solely the result of the accident.

At this point the plaintiff attorney blurted out, “This case has been in my office for two years, and this is the first time I’ve heard this information.” He obviously had not used the services of a Certified Legal Nurse consultant.

The case settled for $10,000, a pittance compared to the initial $5,000,000 demand. “It was extremely satisfying,” Susan commented, “knowing my nursing expertise helped the defendant save millions.”

The Certified Legal Nurse Consultant Is a Specialized Member of the Litigation Team

As in this case, a Certified Legal Nurse consultant’s professional contributions are often critical to achieving a fair and just outcome for all parties. They have consulted on cases as simple as a neck injury caused by an auto accident, as high-profile as the Rodney King case and as groundbreaking as Fen-Phen, Vioxx, silicone implants and toxic mold litigation.

Attorneys rely on Certified Legal Nurse Consultants for a variety of medical-related cases including medical malpractice, personal injury, products liability, toxic tort, workers’ compensation and criminal.

Susan lives in a rural area and works from home with attorneys from several states. Certified Legal Nurse Consultants practice all over the U.S. Wherever there are attorneys, CLNC® services are needed. According to the American Bar Association, 1,116,967 attorneys are in practice today. Approximately 25 percent of these attorneys deal with medical malpractice and personal injury cases and could use a Certified Legal Nurse Consultant as their secret weapon.

Additionally, Certified Legal Nurse Consultants provide healthcare expertise for insurance companies, utilization review firms, government agencies, private corporations and hospitals both as staff members and consultants.

Certified Legal Nurse Consultants regularly report earning fees of $150 per hour. The legal nurse consulting profession allows nurses many options for establishing a satisfying and profitable part-time or full-time consulting career.

Product creation could be a frightening subject for a lot of Internet marketers to face. Some folks who get in the game with the intention of making a full time income are completely ignorant as to how an online business operates. One of the most profitable ways to create online cash is by creating a product that others are happy to pay for.

Product creation is legitimate method of generating money through internet marketing but many entrepreneurs get it wrong. They start by imitating their Internet marketing gurus by creating information products on Internet marketing in hopes of getting rich the way their heroes did. The problem is that they usually don’t know what they are doing and enter a highly competitive niche with very little marketing experience or connections.

Here are a few tips for effective product creation that may help you get on the right track:
Start by finding a profitable niche with low to moderate competition. If you conduct some rudimentary market research and keyword research, you’ll find many opportunities in areas that will surprise you. Amazon and eBay are two great places to brainstorm for product ideas.

Developing Your Product does not have to be a difficult project. You can find experts in the right field for your niche and pay them to write the material while an artist designs the packaging and website or blog. You can outsource the entire product creation part of the project after you conduct the research and testing to ensure profitability.

Sales and marketing strategies should be created while developing the product and learning about the market. Some experienced marketers use pay per click to drive traffic to their offer page; some folks outsource the entire marketing campaign to affiliates through ClickBank or other affiliate programs.

Product creation does not need to be hard, particularly when the merchandise is electronic. E-books, videos, audio and multi-media products sell very well. They are distributed immediately to customers electronically. Once you have a good feel for a niche market, try to service your customers with associated products and upgrades. If you want to earn money online through product creation, you must understand supply and demand. The majority of new online marketers fail miserably because they go after highly competitive markets or forget to research their chosen niche properly. You have to create your products according to the needs, wants and desires of the prospective customers.

Uneasy about your “JOB” security – online home based self employment is the answer. Did you know that the ABS (Australian Bureau of stats) figures show that only 17% of home-based businesses (HBB) are run predominantly by women? There has been huge growth of home-based business operations (57%) and this growth has come from men. In North America alone in the next 3-5 years – 79 million people to will start their own home based business.Due to the current global economic crisis, males aged 35-55 are finding it very difficult to secure replacement professions. On an international level, long standing professional white-collar areas including management consultants, lawyers, accountants, IT professionals, real estate agents, copywriters, finance brokers are finding themselves made redundant with no apparent back up or early exit strategy from the workforce. The home based business sector is an area in dramatic growth and with the right model you can re-design your future, your lifestyle and your retirement.When I say exit strategy – most would consider that retirement is their exit strategy with their super fund, 401(k) and real estate investments as their financial back-up. In my parents day most certainly this was an option – however even they have been hit by the current down turn. But what happens when you find yourself without employment well before your retirement age, where and how do you replace your security, your income?If you are feeling uneasy about your ‘JOB” security and that would be a majority of people what are your alternatives? When you read that the unemployment rate in America has skyrocketed and figures show a 6% increase on numbers before the recession of 2001, and the Australian Treasurer suggests that, “A sustained global recovery is no sure thing…” and warns that “…the national economy would operate below capacity for a while yet, with the unemployment rate to rise and company profits to decline.” Are you going to wait until you are made redundant to consider your options? Or are you going to start working on you exit plan/strategy to fire your boss and become your own boss now? Even professionals who feel presently secure in their roles are considering alternative exit strategies other formats to supplement and in the future replace their current income completely.The Online Home Based Business sector is in dramatic growth. Many are discovering the personal and financial benefits of this sector of self employment. Franchising and Real Estate – areas that have previously done well – these professions require long hours, include the exhausting management of employees and stock and a waiting game for payment. The Online Home Based Business of today offers many benefits above and beyond these traditional business models.Today’s Online Home Based Business has the power to create new lifestyles. You can start your own Online Home Based Business with a new model, with the support of a community of industry leading – like minded entrepreneurs. The model I chose to assist me in firing my boss, can teach and support you, it is a proven business model that provides you with a turnkey marketing solution, allows you to work less hours, have more time for family and create personal and financial security – all while you get paid first and you develop a long term residual income. A model with these components has not been available in the home based industry before.