Question 1

What is a legal nurse consultant?

Accepted Answer

A legal nurse consultant (LNC) is a registered nurse who applies clinical expertise to the legal process. I review and interpret medical records, identify the medical issues in a case, and translate complex healthcare information into clear, usable insight for attorneys and their teams. My nursing background lets me spot what matters medically — gaps in care, inconsistencies in records, causation questions — and explain it in plain terms.

Question 2

What services do you provide?

Accepted Answer

I offer a range of medical-legal services, including behind-the-scenes case consulting, expert witness services, Medicare Set-Aside allocations, life care plans, and pain and suffering reports. Depending on your case, I can work quietly in a supporting role, prepare a formal report, or serve as a testifying expert.

Question 3

What is the difference between a consulting (behind-the-scenes) LNC and a testifying expert?

Accepted Answer

A consulting LNC works behind the scenes as part of your team reviewing records, organizing medical facts, preparing chronologies, drafting questions for depositions, and helping you understand the medicine. A testifying expert, by contrast, is disclosed to the opposing side and may provide opinions in a report, deposition, or at trial. The two roles carry different implications for discovery. A non-testifying consultant's work is generally treated as protected work product, while a testifying expert's materials typically become discoverable. Which role fits depends on your strategy, and I can serve in either.

Question 4

What types of cases do you work on?

Accepted Answer

I work on cases where medical facts are central, including criminal cases, medical malpractice, personal injury, product liability, workers' compensation, and mass tort or catastrophic injury matters. My clinical expertise spans adult inpatient psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, home health, substance abuse, correctional nursing (incarceration), and long-term care nursing. If you're unsure whether your case would benefit from a nurse's review, reach out and we can talk it through.

Question 5

Do you work for plaintiff or defense attorneys?

Accepted Answer

Both! I bring the same objective, records-based analysis to every case regardless of which side retains me. My role is to give you an accurate picture of the medicine so you can build your strategy on solid ground.

Question 6

When in a case should I bring in a legal nurse consultant?

Accepted Answer

The earlier the better. Bringing me in during intake or early case evaluation means you can screen a case for merit, understand its medical strengths and weaknesses, and avoid investing in a matter that won't hold up. That said, I can add value at any stage from initial review through trial preparation.

Question 7

What is a Medicare Set-Aside (MSA), and when is one needed?

Accepted Answer

A Medicare Set-Aside allocates a portion of a settlement to cover future injury-related medical costs that Medicare would otherwise pay, protecting Medicare's interests under the Medicare Secondary Payer rules. In workers' compensation cases, CMS will review a proposed set-aside when the claimant is a Medicare beneficiary and the total settlement exceeds $25,000, or when the claimant has a reasonable expectation of Medicare enrollment within 30 months and the anticipated settlement exceeds $250,000. Submission for CMS review is voluntary, but considering Medicare's interests is not. Parties are expected to account for them in any settlement involving future medical care.

Question 8

What goes into a Medicare Set-Aside allocation?

Accepted Answer

I review the claimant's medical records, treatment history, medications, and projected future care, then calculate the funds needed to cover Medicare-eligible future treatment related to the injury. The result is a defensible allocation report that supports settlement and, where appropriate, CMS submission. Because MSA rules and reporting requirements continue to evolve, I keep my work aligned with current CMS policy.

Question 9

What is a life care plan, and when do I need one?

Accepted Answer

A life care plan is a comprehensive, individualized document that projects the future medical and non-medical needs — and costs — of someone with a serious injury or chronic condition. It covers things like ongoing treatment, therapies, medications, equipment, home modifications, and attendant care over the person's lifetime. Life care plans are especially valuable in catastrophic injury, medical malpractice, and product liability cases where future damages are a central issue. They give attorneys, mediators, and juries a clear, evidence-based picture of what future care will actually require.

Question 10

How is a life care plan different from a Medicare Set-Aside?

Accepted Answer

They're related but distinct. A life care plan projects all of a person's future care needs and costs, regardless of who pays. A Medicare Set-Aside is narrower; it addresses only the future injury-related care that Medicare would otherwise cover, and it exists specifically to protect Medicare's interests in a settlement. A case may need one, the other, or both.

Question 11

What is a pain and suffering report?

Accepted Answer

A pain and suffering report documents the human impact of an injury — the physical pain, functional limitations, emotional toll, and effect on daily life and quality of life. Drawing on the medical records and the clinical course of the injury, I present these non-economic damages in a clear, credible, medically grounded way that helps attorneys, adjusters, and juries understand what the person has actually endured.

Question 12

Why hire a nurse instead of having a paralegal review the records?

Accepted Answer

A paralegal can organize records; a nurse can interpret them. My clinical training lets me recognize deviations from the standard of care, understand causation, catch missing or altered documentation, and explain the medical significance of what's in the chart. That clinical judgment is the difference between a stack of organized records and a genuine understanding of the medicine in your case.

Question 13

What are your qualifications?

Accepted Answer

I am a registered nurse with over a decade of clinical experience in adult inpatient psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, home health, substance abuse, correctional nursing, and long-term care nursing, along with specialized training in legal nurse consulting. I also maintain a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse board certification and a Gerontological Nursing board certification. Lastly, I have completed both Life Care Planning and Medicare Set Aside courses and maintain certification through FIG.

Question 14

How do you charge for your services?

Accepted Answer

I'm happy to discuss the scope of your case and provide an estimate before we begin. Please reach out to me via the 'Contact Me' section of my website or email me directly at riordanrnexpert@gmail.com.

Question 15

What do you need from me to get started?

Accepted Answer

Typically, the relevant medical records, the basic facts of the case, and a sense of what questions you need answered. From there I can recommend the right scope of work.

Frequently asked questions