For The Defense, November 2012 - DRI Today
For The Defense, November 2012 - DRI Today
For The Defense, November 2012 - DRI Today
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<strong>The</strong> Client<br />
In our firm, the nurse paralegal contacts<br />
the client, usually a physician in these<br />
cases, and arranges a meeting with the<br />
physician, the assigned attorney, and the<br />
assigned nurse paralegal. It is crucial that<br />
the nurse paralegal attend the meeting for<br />
several reasons. Because the nurse paralegal<br />
is a nurse and physicians are accustomed<br />
to talking to nurses all the time,<br />
often a physician client is much more forthcoming<br />
with the facts, both good and bad,<br />
when talking to a nurse paralegal. A physician<br />
is less likely to believe that he or she<br />
can pull the wool over the eyes of a nurse<br />
paralegal given his or her training and<br />
experience compared to a defense attorney.<br />
Because of his or her training, a nurse<br />
paralegal is able to ask a physician pertinent<br />
questions that might not occur to<br />
a defense attorney. In our firm the nurse<br />
paralegal takes detailed notes during the<br />
meeting and later prepares a memo summarizing<br />
what a physician said for the<br />
supervising attorney’s use and the use of<br />
the professional liability insurance carrier.<br />
<strong>The</strong> attorney and the nurse paralegal<br />
discuss potential expert witnesses with<br />
the physician client to see if he or she has<br />
someone in mind or has any objection to<br />
the expert witnesses that the attorney is<br />
considering asking to review the case. <strong>The</strong><br />
nurse paralegal reassures the physician<br />
so that the physician will feel comfortable<br />
communicating with him or her directly in<br />
the future. <strong>The</strong> nurse paralegal provides the<br />
physician with copies of two memos prepared<br />
by the attorney, one describing the<br />
litigation process and the other discussing<br />
how to deal with the cognitive distortions<br />
that a physician often suffers during litigation.<br />
See David D. Burns, Feeling Good: <strong>The</strong><br />
New Mood <strong>The</strong>rapy (1980).<br />
Medical Records<br />
<strong>The</strong> nurse paralegal collects the relevant<br />
medical records from several sources: the<br />
physician client, the plaintiff, through written<br />
discovery, and third-party health-care<br />
providers, through the use of authorizations<br />
for release of information signed by<br />
the plaintiff or through subpoenas. Nursing<br />
judgment is involved in determining<br />
which medical records will likely be relevant<br />
to a case. In cases involving chronic<br />
conditions, it may be prudent to obtain<br />
decades of medical records. In cases involving<br />
short- lasting, acute conditions, it may<br />
be prudent initially to obtain three years<br />
of medical records. When the records are<br />
obtained, nursing judgment is involved<br />
in determining if additional records are<br />
required. <strong>The</strong> nurse paralegal generally<br />
makes these determinations in our firm.<br />
As the firm receives the medical records,<br />
the nurse paralegal prepares a detailed<br />
A DEEPER<br />
KNOWLEDGE<br />
OF YOUR<br />
PRACTICE<br />
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We Know Your Business.<br />
<strong>For</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Defense</strong> ■ <strong>November</strong> <strong>2012</strong> ■ 19