What is a Legal Nurse Consultant?

 A Legal Nurse Consultant is a licensed, registered nurse who performs a critical analysis of clinical and administrative nursing practice, healthcare facts and issues and their outcomes for the legal profession, healthcare professions, consumers of healthcare and legal services, and others as appropriate. With a strong educational and experiential foundation, the legal nurse consultant is qualified to assess adherence to standards and guidelines of healthcare practice as it applies to the nursing and healthcare professions. 

 A thorough and thoughtful review of medical records is key to building a claim or defense in a legal proceeding.  Yet, analyzing these records can prove to be challenging and sometimes overwhelming. Nurses can perform a more detailed analysis than other members of the legal team. Their familiarity and expertise with the healthcare system allow them to identify irregularities or variants in the delivery of patient care. 

 A physician may charge between $250 and $800 per hour to initially screen a case. That is extremely expensive, especially when a large part of that time is spent organizing medical records and researching issues. Legal Nurse Consultants may effectively provide the same services and are much more cost-efficient. Why spend a fortune on a physician to tell you that you don't even meet the criteria to prove a case.