Case Management Consultant to Attorneys in Litigated Cases.

ABSTRACT: Rehabilitation nurses possess knowledge and skills that are ideally suited to a variety of roles. This article informs rehabilitation nurses about opportunities to work in private case management for medical-legal cases. A brief overview of the process of litigation gives nurses the context in which case management interventions are needed. Case examples illustrate the services that nurses provide to attorneys and their clients that help obtain needed care and aid in progressing litigation to resolution.

Understanding forensic psychiatry in healthcare practices and collaboration between legal nurse consultants and physicians.

In 2000, the Institute of Medicine stunned many professionals with their published report that noted the vast number of deaths that occur each year in hospitals across the United States which reach as many as 98,000. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the healthcare arena faces litigious issues regularly, with some specialties budgets being significantly impacted by the cost of maintaining liability insurance. Legal Nurse Consultants and forensic physicians working in tandem but who work independently from treating clinicians can carry out forensic independent medical examinations (IME). This can help to assess the validity of malpractice claims, including issues of causation and degree of injuries claimed due to the incident(s) and recommend treatment strategies where appropriate. Reviews can cover a wide range of issues such as a person's past or current testamentary capacity, a prisoner or an accused person's mental health and/or mental impairment where necessary sending them for more assessment or treatment outside prison. This article argues that independent medical reviews are a useful tool that can assist the civil and criminal courts processes.

[Current SHI physician legislation: succession rules for surgical seats : Surgical vacancies can be filled with orthopedic/trauma surgery specialists only within narrow limits]. / Aktuelles Vertragsarztrecht: Nachfolge bei Chirurgensitzen : Nachbesetzung einer chirurgischen Zulassung durch Fachärzte für Orthopädie/Unfallchirurgie nur in engen Grenzen.

It is a physician's certified continuing medical education category-rather than their actual medical activity, in this case in the field of trauma surgery-that is decisive in filling statutory health insurance (SHI) practice vacancies. This evaluation arising from §16 of the requirement planning guideline applies accordingly when filling physician vacancies. Thus physician vacancies or statutory health insurance (SHI) practice places can only be filled by a physician in the same physician group in line with requirement planning. Scope for argumentation initially remains in the context of filling surgical SHI physician vacancies where the ceding physician is certified as an accident insurance consultant.

Declaration and Handling of Conflicts of Interest in Guidelines: A Study of S1 Guidelines From German Specialist Societies From 2010-2013.

BACKGROUND: Authors' conflicts of interest may affect the content of medical guidelines. In April 2010, the Association of Scientific Medical Societies in Germany (AWMF) issued recommendations on how such conflicts of interest should be dealt with. Most AWMF guidelines are so-called S1 guidelines developed by informal consensus in a group of experts. We now present the first study to date on the management of conflicts of interest in S1 guidelines. METHODS: On 2 December 2013, we selected the guidelines that had appeared from 1 November 2010 to 1 November 2013 among the 449 current S1 guidelines on the AWMF website. We extracted information about conflicts of interest from the guideline texts, reports, and/or conflict of interest statements and evaluated this information descriptively. RESULTS: There were 234 S1 guidelines in this category, developed by a total of 2190 experts. For 7% (16/234) of the guidelines and 16% (354/2190) of the experts, no individual conflict of interest statement could be found. Where conflict of interest statements were available, conflicts of interest were often declared--in 98% (213/218) of the guidelines and by 85% (1565/1836) of the authors. The most common type of conflict of interest was membership in a specialist society or professional association (1571/1836, 86%). Half of the experts acknowledged a financial conflict of interest (911/1836, 50%). Conflicts of interest were more common among experts contributing to guidelines that mainly concerned treatment with drugs or other medical products than in guidelines that did not have an emphasis of this type (397/663, or 60%, versus 528/1173, or 45%). The conflicts of interest were assessed in 11% (25/234) of the guidelines, with practical consequences in a single case. CONCLUSION: Conflicts of interest are often declared in the S1 guidelines of the AWMF, but they are only rarely assessed by external evaluators. Clear rules should be issued for how experts' declared conflicts of interest should be acted upon, whether they are of a financial nature or not.

Scientific profile and professional responsibility of Court-appointed Medical Technical Consultants in Italy: time for a specific educational curriculum?

Court-appointed Technical Consultants (CTCs) are fundamental figures in the Italian judicial system. CTCs are experts appointed by judges in order to supplement their activities by ascertaining, collecting and analyzing facts concerning the specific subject of a lawsuit. These experts formulate opinions, gather motivations and perform checks to provide clear, objective and irrefutable answers to the questions posed by judges. With direct reference to the medical field, while police doctors (specialists in forensic medicine) follow an academic, dedicated, well-structured educational curriculum, the University specialty school in Forensic Medicine, other medical CTCs, though not infrequently luminaries with one or many medical specialties and professional acknowledgments, may have no specific legal-medicine and juridical expertise, precisely because a similar expertise is not formally required of them. In the light of these considerations, in Italy some professionals of the legal world, and of the health context too, have proposed for medical CTCs targeted educational pathways, which would provide these experts with formal specific qualifications. In synthesis and in conclusion, a full knowledge and a rigorous respect of the rules of legal proceedings emerge as increasingly important characteristics for current and future Court-appointed Technical Consultants, together with a specific educational curriculum.

[The consulting physician for withdrawal of life-sustaining treatments in children]. / Le médecin consultant pour les limitations et les arrêts de traitement en pédiatrie.

In 2005, the French law on patients' rights at the end of life ratified that decisions to withdraw or withhold life-sustaining treatments must be made and carried out by the physician in charge of the patient, after obtaining the advice of an independent consulting colleague. The purpose of this text is to put forward the perspective of a pediatric multidisciplinary workshop regarding the role of the consulting physician and to propose guidelines to help choose this consultant.

Legal nurse consultant: a role for nephrology nurses.

Historically, nephrology nurses have assumed various roles in the workplace, including staff nurse, educator, advanced practice nurse, and transplant coordinator. However, there is an emerging role that may be new and different to some nephrology nurses: the legal nurse consultant. With an increase in the number of lawsuits, it is imperative to have experienced and knowledgeable nephrology nurses working with attorneys on cases that involve our unique specialty. This article will define legal nurse consulting, differentiate the various types of consultants, and explain the roles and responsibilities of the legal nurse consultant.

[Reasons for resignations of senior consultant surgeons]. / Ursachen für das Scheitern chirurgischer Chefärzte.

Up to approximately 15-20 years ago it could be safely assumed that the promotion to senior consultant surgeon was a lifetime position. Nowadays it is different. Contracts for senior consultants are normally for an unlimited period but as with other employees there is the possibility to legally terminate the employment conditions and approximately 50% make use of this. The reasons very rarely concern an inability of the physician and are mostly concerned with the surrounding working conditions. Poor contractual structures, incompatibility in the spectrum of responsibilities, financial restrictions by the finance department and poor communication with the finance department and colleagues are the main problem areas. In this article the potential points of conflict are demonstrated.