Archives November 2021

In this blog I’ll be reviewing criminal cases, and the role Barber Medical Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC has in leveraging a successful outcome.

It is important to understand what is legally considered a crime.  A crime is any act that society considers contrary to the public good.  To be considered a crime, the act must cause harm to society.

Secondly, it is important to understand the differences between civil and criminal cases.

Civil cases involve actions that are personal in nature, causing individual harm, personal injury or property damage, and result in monetary damages.  Civil cases require proof by a preponderance of evidence. A civil verdict requires a majority of the jury to agree.

Criminal cases involve actions against society as a whole, violating the peace of the community.  This could involve homicide, assault, rape, or abuse among other things.  Criminal cases require proof beyond a reasonable doubt. A criminal verdict must be unanimous. 

Some actions can be both civil and criminal in nature. 

When Barber Medical Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC teams with a legal firm on a criminal case, we consider the elements of a crime in developing our report.  For example, the act committed, and the criminal intent.  We evaluate causation – did the act cause harm? We assess the extent of injuries, presence of any pre-existing conditions, the long-term prognosis, and develop a life care plan if needed.

Examples of criminal cases Barber Medical Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC evaluates: DWI and DUI, sexual and physical assault, child, spouse, or elderly abuse, criminal cases against individual providers and facilities, criminal environmental, any case involving a victim of a violent crime, psychiatric defenses, psychiatric issues, Medicaid, and Medicare fraud and abuse, possession of narcotics, and excessive use of force by law enforcement.

P.S. Comment and share your experience with criminal cases.  How has the element of causation influenced your case outcomes?

In this blog I’ll be reviewing another type of case Barber Medical Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC has the expertise to assist with.  Product Liability is a claim brought for personal injury, death, or property damage caused by the manufacture, construction, design, formulation, preparation, assembly, installation, testing, warnings, instructions, marketing, packaging, or labeling of any product.

3 major types of product liability claims:

1. Manufacturing defect: occurs in manufacturing and usually involves poor-quality materials or workmanship;
2. Design defect: occurs when the product design is inherently dangerous, and fails expectations on what is a safe product, whereby its risks outweigh its benefits; and
3. Failure-to-warn (marketing) defect: occurs in products that carry inherent non-obvious dangers which could be mitigated through adequate warnings to the user, and these dangers are present regardless of how well it is manufactured.

In the event a company fails to disclose warnings about the possible health hazards or when it tries to minimize the dangers, public health can be in jeopardy from defective materials.

Examples of medical devices and drug related products liability cases include:
Celebrex ^®, hormone therapy, birth control pills, Vioxx ^®, Ephedrine, Oxycontin ^®, Botox ^®, Fosamax ^®, hip implants (all metal), implantable defibrillators, and ventilators.

Examples of non-medical device products liability cases include: Machinery and equipment, children’s toys, cigarettes and lighters, motor vehicles, automobiles, and automobile parts, food, household products, and personal care products.

What is the role of Barber Medical Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC in a product liability case?

• Case screening / assess case for merit
• Assess injuries, damages, and prognosis / life care planning
• Evaluate causation
• Summarize and translate authoritative literature to attorney, and legal team
• Educate attorney, and legal team
• Evaluate validity, and reliability of research from opposing side
• Report writing
• Develop chronological timeline
• Development of evidence to assist with deposition and/or trial
• Identify and review tangible items
• Interview client witnesses
• Identify and locate testifying experts

P.S. Comment and respond if you have experience with product liability cases

In this blog, I’ll be addressing personal injury cases, specifically motor vehicle accidents, one of the seven types of cases Barber Medical Legal Nurse Consulting, LLC can review. In the event of a personal injury case involving a motor vehicle accident (MVA), the plaintiff has a history of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). The plaintiff has a 5-year history of low back and bilateral hip pain.  Status post MVA, the plaintiff reports worsening mid to low back and left hip pain with a new onset of left leg pain radiating down the full length of extremity associated with numbness and tingling making it difficult to stand or walk for long periods of time.

 Is this a non-meritorious case secondary to a pre-existing medical condition?  Or, is this a meritorious case secondary to exacerbation of a pre-existing medical condition as a result of the MVA?

Per Patient Safety in Surgery, cited in Pitfalls and complications in the treatment of cervical spine fractures in patients with ankylosing spondylitis, (AS) is:

• A chronic system wide inflammatory rheumatic disorder primarily affecting the axial skeleton (sacroiliac joints and spine)
• Characterized by remissions (reduction in severity of disease symptoms), and exacerbation (acute increase in severity of disease symptoms).  Exacerbation’s can be triggered by traumatic incidences, such as an MVA.  Exacerbation’s should be distinguished from traumatic lesions which have been reported to occur in rigid AS spines (which usually resolve within two weeks.) 

>The defense is likely to argue that the damages were unavoidable and were due to a pre-existing condition of AS.

The below links are useful resources specific to AS with a great case study in the first link provided:

Handle with care: the dangers of cervical spine fracture in patients with ankylosing spondylitis. (Cases in Point). https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A97295577/HRCA?u=nysl_ca_sal&sid=bookmark-HRCA&xid=f46a940f   

Pitfalls and complications in the treatment of cervical spine fractures in patients with ankylosing spondylitis. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A181172821/HRCA?u=nysl_ca_sal&sid=bookmark-HRCA&xid=35390642

P.S. Comment and share what your thoughts are about the merits of the case based on the limited information provided

P.P.S. Comment and share if you have experience with a personal injury case involving a plaintiff with a history of AS. How did this medical history impact the outcome of the case?