An interesting topic I came across a while back, and had been keeping, along with some other possible thread topics, in the HW PC Possible Threads Folder that I have on my computer.
From time to time I look over what I have found and put into that folder from websurfing, for possible use here, and sometimes I pull out of the folder and post threads here on the forum about
topics that suddenly seem relevant.
Since there is ongoing right now a current thread on the forum about
legal issues that a PCa case may involve, this seemed like an appropriate topic right now to pull out of the folder and post.
Of course I am
not taking any position on anyone's plan to consider or take legal action in the matter of their PCa situation. I am simply posting the information in this thread as information only. So, anyone can use it or not use it as they see fit.
In essence, this is just something that I came across while websurfing, and am now "throwing out there" for whatever it may be worth to anybody.
So here is that information
Apparently there is a relatively new (since the 1980s) occupational specialty out there. Namely medical staff (usually nurses) with experience in treating certain illnesses, who serve as expert witnesses in legal proceedings, such as trials, that involve those illnesses. This would seem to include legal proceedings involving PCa.
They're part, it would seem, of a growing trend of medical staff, as noted usually nurses, who offer their medical expertise to attorneys and law courts, and apparently receive compensation for doing so.
The title that has come to be applied to this recently developed specialty is "Legal Nurse Consultant (LNC)" and it already has its own Wikipedia article:
/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_nurse_consultantFrom this article:
"A legal nurse consultant (LNC) is a registered nurse who uses expertise as a health care provider and specialized training to consult on medical-related legal cases. LNCs assist attorneys in reading medical records and understanding medical terminology and healthcare issues to achieve the best results for their clients.""The legal nurse consultant acts as a specialized member of the litigation team whose professional contributions are often critical to achieving a fair and just outcome for all parties."As noted, prostate cancer is one of the illnesses for which engaging the services of an LNC is apparently possible. It would seem there are even online "want ads" out there from some companies purporting to offer the services of "prostate cancer experts," to all who are presumably going to trial and might be interested in the services of one, for a fee of course.
And to judge from the number of companies listing ads, one might conclude that business is booming. For example:
/www.hg.org/medical-experts/medical-experts-prostate-cancer.asp.Of course the immediate question arises, just how much is this phenomenon for real and just how seriously should we take it?
One reason I raise this question is because the ads appearing in the link immediately above do seem to have a certain "commercial" atmosphere to them, which I find a bit concerning. However, as with anything, it's probably the case that there are legitimate LNCs offering their services out there, and maybe some not so legitimate. But, presumably, the law firms that would hire these individuals would be very careful in evaluating them and their services first, before hiring them.
So what would seem to give LNCs legitimacy?
Well, for one thing, they seem to have their own professional association:
www.aalnc.org/(which advocates certification of its members, BTW). And the following salary website claims a median income of about
$ 73,000 for LNCs (which I assume would be for full-time employment), so for that kind of money one would hope that the majority of LNCs are on the up-and-up:
www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Legal_Nurse_Consultant/SalaryA quick look at articles retrieved by general googling does produce pieces on LNCs (generally positive) from some reputable sources (such as Medscape, for example), and I did not immediately find any heavily critical pieces from reliable sources about
the LNC phenomenon.
I found numerous websites that go into detail on specific LNC job duties, this one probably being typical:
www.allnursingschools.com/nursing-careers/article/lnc/Hopefully none of us will ever get to the point where we would need to engage in legal pursuits, for whatever reason, regarding our individual PCa situations, and thus never need the services of a prostate cancer "LNC."
But it's at least interesting to know that this specialty apparently does exist, whether or not we ever need to make use of one of its practitioners.