Clark Fountain Supports National Nurses Week 2017

As a personal injury law firm that represents seriously injured victims throughout Florida and the United States, Clark, Fountain, La Vista, Littky-Rubin & Whitman values the important role nurses play in providing critical care and support to victims and their families. It is why we are proud to support National Nurses Week, which runs from May 6 through May 12, 2017, and to share our experience working with nurses who not only help treat and rehabilitate our clients during difficult times but also provide the insight and counsel needed to effectively handle their legal cases.

When it comes to personal injury cases, our attorneys have a legal obligation to prove how negligence or a defective unsafe product leads to serious injuries. While establishing liability is a critical aspect of any claim, cases also hinge on proving how the injuries were caused, how severe the injuries are, and how the injuries impact the lives of our clients and their loved ones. To accomplish this, we have in-house nurses working for our firm and also utilize outside legal nurse consultants from time to time.

Our in-house legal nurse consultants work with other professional nurses to facilitate the analysis and evaluation of facts, testimony, and medical information regarding the cause and nature of injuries in legal matters, including personal injury cases, medical malpractice and defective and unsafe product cases. Our licensed registered nurses have strong educational and experiential backgrounds are considered experts in their fields, and can share their insight and opinions in matters involving the delivery of nursing, various health care services, and patient outcomes.

Some of the many duties our in-house legal nurse consultants handle include:

• Organizing and evaluating relevant medical records
• Conducting medical research
• Evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of a case
• Evaluating issues of causation and damages
• Assisting with determinations of future medical needs
• Assisting with case management and strategies
• Facilitating reviews with other medical experts

Because proving damages (injuries) and illustrating the full scope of their impact on our clients lives and future is an essential part of a medical malpractice, personal injury or defective product case. Legal nurse consultants often prove invaluable in working with lawyers to analyze, research, and educate them about technical medical information, as well as information regarding their personal experience providing care to patients.

In addition, our in-house nurses many times function as patient advocates, even if not at the bedside. This means they will participate in client interviews and can help provide the guidance and medical insight clients need as they navigate both their legal journeys and their physical recoveries. Such a role is invaluable to ensuring patients have all the support they need during difficult times, and it is something we focus on providing to every client of our firm.

While our firm certainly leverages our professional connections with legal nurse consultants and medical experts who practice in various fields of medicine, we also have the distinction of having a Partner with an extensive nursing background. Our Partner, Nancy La Vista, who is also Board Certified in Civil Trial Law and Medical Malpractice Law and RoxAnn Billingslea, a nurse paralegal and firm administrator are both former critical care nurses. Both Nancy and RoxAnn have years of experience as a registered nurses, and draws from this experience and knowledge of the health care industry when helping our seriously injured clients, including those who suffered preventable harm as a result of medical malpractice and defective products and unsafe products. Their backgrounds are one of driving forces behind our firm’s ability to continually satisfy clients and secure positive results on their behalves.

As lawyers committed to helping the injured, we share common ground with nurses, and are extremely grateful for all the work nurses have done and continue to do for our clients – not only when providing medical care, but also when helping our legal team create the best possible cases for our clients.

Have questions about your rights following a preventable injury or wish to discuss a potential case? Contact our team for a FREE case evaluation.