As a CLNC® Mentor for LegalNurse.com, I frequently mentor Certified Legal Nurse Consultants on their first auto accident case. Once I remind them just how easy and basic these cases can be they are off and running.
In auto accident cases it is the legal nurse consultant’s job to identify all applicable issues related to the accident and to alert the attorney to all physical and/or mental injuries (temporary and permanent). This enables the plaintiff attorney to seek compensation for the injured plaintiff or assists the defense attorney in minimizing damages. A thorough analysis of the plaintiff’s medical records is necessary to create a complete picture of how the accident affects the plaintiff’s life, presently and in the future.
Here are the 9 essential points to consider when analyzing your next auto accident case.
- The injuries sustained as a direct result of the accident. You will want to look closely at the plaintiff’s past medical history to determine if there are pre-existing conditions that could be related to the current injuries (e.g., old knee injury, now complaining of knee injury related to auto accident).
- Required treatments, procedures, surgeries, therapies and hospitalization(s) related to the auto accident.
- Complications related to the injuries (e.g., compartment syndrome, infection, pneumothorax related to rib fractures, pulmonary damage related to inhaled toxins).
- Indications of pain and suffering (e.g., complaints of pain, pain medication use, inability to participate in treatment or therapies related to pain).
- Emotional issues related to the accident (e.g., nightmares, fear of traveling in an auto, PTSD, required counseling).
- Future and ongoing treatment required (e.g., dialysis related to renal damage, long-term wound treatment, colostomy revision surgery, removal of hardware).
- Rehabilitation needs (e.g., PT, occupational, speech).
- Permanent damage (e.g., physical – amputation, paraplegia; cognitive – long-term memory impairment from inhaling toxic fumes in crash with fire).
- Special care needs (e.g., 24-hour supervised care, home health, specialized bed, wheel chair, specialized wheel chair, home adaptation such as ramps and wider door frames).
BONUS TIP
Adding illustrations of the injury elevates your legal nurse consulting report for an auto accident case to the next level. Personalizing the illustrations with arrows pointing to the specific area of damage and labeling the illustration with the plaintiff’s name is also a nice touch.
Copyright laws prohibit you from just copying and using an image, but there are a lot of medical illustrations available for purchase on the Internet for just a few dollars. You can search for the type of illustration you need in your Internet search box, such as “fractured proximal tibia illustration.” If you use Google, you can choose “images” under the search box and it will bring up images instead of websites.
Consider these 9 points related to injuries and include my bonus tip in your next auto accident case report.
Guest Blogger Profile
Jane Hurst, RN, CLNC has more than 20 years of experience as a CLNC consultant. She has been an RN for more than 30 years in a variety of specialties including burn care, medical-surgical, renal transplant and oncology. She has also worked in a physician’s office and an insurance company and taught in an LPN program for five years. Jane lives in rural Ohio and has clients both nationally and internationally. She is a CLNC Mentor and a guest faculty member for LegalNurse.com.
P.S. Comment and share your legal nurse consulting tips for analyzing auto accident cases.
