Five Reasons why there are More Opportunities for Legal Nurse Consultants

According to the American Chronicle here are five reasons why opportunities for Legal Nurse Consultant's will continue to enjoy even more electrifying growth over the next ten years.

1. The number of U.S. attorneys continues to increase annually. Currently there are 1,058,662 attorneys in the U.S. and, as the Houston Chronicle states, at least "25 percent deal with medical malpractice and personal injury cases."

2. At the national level, the U.S. Senate said "no" to a tort reform bill that sought to limit non-economic damages (pain and suffering) in malpractice suits to $250,000. Even if the Senate bill had passed, legal nurse consultants would still have plenty of cases to work on.

3. Most medical malpractice cases legal nurse consultants consult on involve significant economic damages, such as medical expenses and lost earning capacity. These high-dollar cases will continue to keep legal nurse consultants busy.

4. Legal nurse consultants don't just consult on medical malpractice cases. They consult on general personal injury, products liability, toxic tort, criminal and a variety of other cases. Injury cases of all kinds will be with us as long as Americans breathe.

5. In states that limit non-economic damages, attorneys are a bit more selective, concentrating on cases with significant physical and psychological damages (not just emotional distress or pain and suffering). That means both plaintiff and defense attorneys increasingly rely on legal nurse consultants for assurance that they're making the best business decision in each case they take on.

Legal nurse consultant programs train nurses to combine their health-care expertise with a strong interest in the courtroom. They are frequently called by defense attorneys and prosecutors for their forensic or pharmacological knowledge to help resolve difficult criminal or civil cases. Potential Certified Legal Nurse Consultant salaries range from $70 to $200 per hour.

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