In the United States, more than a quarter of a million people lose their lives each year due to medical malpractice. That places medical errors as the third leading cause of death in the country right after cancer and heart disease.
Unfortunate for such victims and their families, holding medical practitioners accountable for their actions is a tricky affair. By enrolling into a legal nurse consultant school, you can be the understated hero these victims need in their pursuit for justice and compensation.
The complex nature of the medical field makes it difficult for judges to pass judgment.
1. Help clear the air.
Although judges, lawyers, and prosecutors have a solid grounding in law, they often out of their depth during medical malpractice cases. Matters complicate when the medical and legal worlds overlap. To this end, the justice system needs a little help from qualified individuals.
You can be this all-too-important bridge between these two different professions. These legal minds need someone to translate the medical terminologies while offering insights into the medical procedures. Legal nurse consultants have foundation in both the legal and medical field.
As such, they are called on to serve as expert witnesses in many medical malpractice cases. They are also called upon by lawyers to help gather evidence as well as understand the merit of the claims. As a legal nurse consultant, you’ll be called upon to explain how medical processes work and what constitutes malpractice.
2. Ensure fair judgments.
Only active registered nurses can make the transition to a legal nursing consultant. You must have a few years as practicing nursing to qualify for the program. The American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants requires at least five years of experience and 2,000 hours of consulting as a medical nurse.
Getting this certification opens you to a whole new world of career possibilities. The combination of both legal and medical knowledge makes you an asset to many organizations. Law firms, courtrooms, and insurance companies are always on the hunt for credible consultants to help with such cases.
Tapping into your extensive knowledge and experience, you can ensure that all victims in the cases you’re handling get justice. You can breakdown the complex cases into easy to understand language to help the judges reach a judgment.
By assisting lawyers in arguing their cases, you ensure that each case concludes in a fair and just decision. Patients turn to medical practitioners for help when suffering from an injury or an ailment. In most cases, patients get the necessary support to move on with their lives.
In the unfortunate event that they don’t get the help they need; some patients endure horrific suffering with some dying in the process. As a legal nursing consultant, you can help the patients in the latter category hold the errant parties responsible for their action.
You get to work with judges, insurance companies, lawyers as they deliberate the issues. As the bridge between the medical and legal field, you get to ensure that each case is decided on merit to reach a fair judgment.
