Twenty Little Known Facts About Buddenhagen & Associates
Altanta Legal Nurse Consultants

1. Nurses Top List of Most Honest and Ethical Professions-Lydia Saad, Gallup
News Service, December 14, 2006
Princeton, NJ – Someone seeking a job that commands high respect need look no
further than nursing. For the eighth consecutive year, nurses top Gallup’s annual list
of occupations rated for their honesty, and ethical standards, earning high marks
from more than four in five Americans…
Other than car salesmen, the professions that stand out for receiving substantially
more negative than positive ratings include congressmen, HMO managers,
advertising practitioners, insurance salesmen, senators, and lawyers.
Update:  Nurses Shine, Bankers Slump in Ethics Ratings, By Lydia Saad
Gallup News Service, November 24, 2008. Nurses top the list again...without peers.

2. Buddenhagen & Associate's Atlanta Legal Nurse Consultants can work on
any case where health, illness or injury is at issue.

3. A Legal Nurse Consultant  can work with attorneys, insurance companies,
government agencies, healthcare facilities, private corporations, forensic
environments and other LNCs.

4. LNCs can work plaintiff or defense but not both on the same case.

5. Some LNCs, like Buddenhagen & Associates, work behind the scenes and are
referred to as “consulting experts”, other LNCs work as “testifying experts”
(expert witnesses) and still others as “fact witnesses”.
  • A fact witness is a LNC who presents medical facts as testimony, explaining
    a medical device and/or educating on medical situations, but not giving
    opinions. For instance, if a Foley catheter is at issue in the case, the fact
    witness will explain what a Foley catheter is, show what it looks like, how it
    works and any other pertinent facts. A fact witness may also be an LNC who
    attends, monitors and reports on an IME (independent medical exam).
  • An expert witness, gives opinions regarding the medical-legal situation,
    appearing in depositions and may be called upon to testify at trial. Their work
    is “discoverable” to the other side.
  • A consulting expert works with clients to prepare the case from scratch
    to fruition, any or all phases and their work is generally privileged information
    for the retaining client and is generally not discoverable to the other side.

6. Specific practice areas for a Legal Nurse Consultant include:  personal injury,
product liability, medical and nursing malpractice, premise liability, railroad cases,
auto and truck accidents, worker’s compensation and workplace injury cases, toxic
torts and environmental cases, risk management, fraud and abuse, criminal law,
elder law, cost projections and Medicare Set Aside.

7. While many LNCs have acquired knowledge of the legal system through experience
as consultants with attorneys and by attending seminars, legal education is not a
prerequisite to the successful practice of legal nurse consulting. A Legal Nurse
Consultant adds value with his/her healthcare background, understanding the
field and it's inner workings.

8. Opinions of a Legal Nurse Consultant are based on objective standards of care
and the LNC’s years of experience and education in healthcare.

9. The Buddenhagen & Associates Atlanta Legal Nurse Consultant firm is an
independent business and charges hourly and flat rates for various services. Some  
LNCs work “in-house” with law firms and insurance companies and are typically paid
on salary.

10. Independent LNCs work solo, as partners or in groups. They also may
subcontract when they have a heavy workload or when they need to pull in another
nurse who has more experience in a certain specialty. When an additional Atlanta
Legal Nurse Consultant is used, there is no added cost to the client - yet the client
still benefits.

11. For over 20 years, legal nurse consultants have acted as collaborators and
strategists, offering support in medically-related litigation and other medical-legal
matters. AALNC, 1996

12. The best LNCs have a wealth of experience and generally bring several areas of
expertise to the table. They network with many other LNCs who have varying
backgrounds, which complements the knowledge base.

13. Medicare Set Aside is a service that is offered as well as referral for Life
Care Planning.

14. Many Legal Nurses stay clinically active. Others are wholly invested in their Legal
Nurse Consultant practice and stay current in healthcare issues with continuing
education and by networking with clinically active colleagues.

15. Confidentiality is maintained by LNCs.

16. “The Legal Nurse Consultant is a licensed registered nurse who performs a
critical analysis of healthcare facts and issues and their outcomes for the legal
profession, healthcare professions, and others as appropriate. With a strong
educational and experiential background, the LNC is qualified to assess
adherence to standards of healthcare practice as it applies to the nursing and
healthcare professions.”
American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants, 1996

17. “A legal nurse consultant is part of an emerging field of experts used by law
firms. In the past, physicians were typically the only medical experts attorneys hired
to assist with the medical-related cases. Today, a legal nurse consultant provides an
affordable alternative for law firms…”
National Institute for Paralegal Arts and Sciences

18. Employment for paralegals and legal assistants is projected to grow much
faster than average for all occupations through 2014. For legal nurse
consultants, the employment outlook will follow a similar path.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2006-2007 edition.

19. Atlanta Legal Nurse Consultant Liz Buddenhagen will locate appropriate,
qualified and well credentialed expert witnesses.

20. Simply put, a successful, experienced and expertly trained Atlanta Legal Nurse
Consultant can save you time and money and free your staff for legal work in an
affordable manner, with the ability to work within your budget.

Call us today at Buddenhagen & Associates,  770-725-2997
Liz Buddenhagen, RN
Atlanta Legal Nurse
Consultant
Atlanta Legal Nurse Consultant                     770-725-2997

"Liz Buddenhagen's
presentation
'Managing the LNC
Workload', as part of
our Legal Nurse
Consultant Series is of
great educational
value to our students.
Her evaluations from
the participants are
very positive."
Barbara Benjamin,
EdD. RN
Assistant Clinical
Professor, School of
Nursing Center for Life
Long Learning
University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill