Notice of General Disclaimers

I/we (the “Undersigned”), on behalf of the Undersigned, the law firm he/she is employed by and his/her client(s) hereby authorize Healthcare Litigation Consultants, LLC, to review and render recommendations concerning specified services for the Undersigned. The Undersigned has retained HLC to perform certain activities at his/her request. These activities generally consist of evaluating medical records and other information provided to HLC by the Undersigned with the goal of trying to determine whether or not the medical care described in such information failed to comply with appropriate standards of care practiced by the medical professional generally under the same or similar circumstances. The Undersigned may also ask HLC to provide other ancillary and/or related services. These services may include such things as:

1. Analyzing medical records;
2. Making assessments about whether or not there were deviations from appropriate standards of care reflected in the information reviewed;
3. Making recommendations regarding appropriate specialties to further elaborate on HLC’s opinions about possible deviations from care;
4. Preparing medical affidavits;
5. Preparing medical narratives; and/or
6. Preparing medical timelines.

In return for HLC’s performing the services the Undersigned desires and that are agreed to by HLC, the Undersigned agrees to the following terms and conditions, which are integral and material to HLC’s willingness to perform the tasks it has agreed to perform for the Undersigned:

1. HLC is not practicing medicine or law or giving medical or legal advice. HLC’s role is to make a good-faith evaluation of the materials it is provided and give recommendations to the Undersigned about opinions it derives from its analysis.
2. HLC is not agreeing to give any advice regarding applicable statutes of limitations, which state’s laws are applicable, the value of any case, who should be sued, whether a lawsuit will or will not be successful, who has the capacity to sue, etc. Similarly, HLC will not make medical treatment recommendations.
3. The services rendered by HLC are not designed to and do not include medical advice, professional diagnoses, opinions, treatment, or services to the Undersigned beyond what is set out in this disclaimer or subsequently agreed to by the Undersigned and HLC in writing.
4. The decision about whether or not to further pursue a case is a decision that must be made solely by the Undersigned and not by HLC. HLC will not hire experts for the Undersigned or pay expert bills.
5. By signing this agreement, the Undersigned is agreeing that there is no HIPAA violation involved in HLC’s review of the materials the Undersigned sends to HLC. By entering into the agreement, the Undersigned is representing that he/she has his/her client’s permission to allow HLC to review all of the provided materials without it constituting any type of HIPAA violation.

Limitation of Liability:

If the Undersigned contends that HLC has in any way deviated from its obligations to the Undersigned, then the maximum amount of damages the Undersigned is entitled to recover from HLC is the amount the Undersigned paid HLC for the services it rendered related to this agreement. In the event there is such a dispute, the Undersigned and HLC agree that any such dispute must be resolved by way of binding arbitration rather than a legal suit, and the venue for such arbitration is in Fulton County, Georgia, with Georgia statutory rules of arbitration governing the arbitration.

HLC is agreeing to make a good-faith review of the information it is provided by the Undersigned with a goal of answering the Undersigned’s questions about the medical care described in the information reviewed. HLC is limited by the fact that the preliminary evaluation it accomplishes is being done by a board-certified internal medicine/hospitalist physician, who has medical experience only in those areas and/or by an RN, who has nursing experience. They cannot evaluate any medical case from any standpoint other than their respective specialties, so one of the main goals HLC is agreeing to accomplish is making a good-faith threshold recommendation regarding whether or not the case, in its opinion, justifies further expert reviews to make a final decision about whether or not the case reviewed contains deviations from care practiced by one or more healthcare providers. HLC will make good-faith recommendations about questions such as whether or not the case justifies further review. However, the final decision about whether or not further reviews are conducted and by whom are decisions that must finally rest with the Undersigned, not HLC.

HLC will attempt to make fair, honest, unbiased observations about the case and whether or not it is, in HLC’s good-faith opinion, likely to be a case that is worth further evaluation by other experts. If the Undersigned decides to go further with the case, HLC may also recommend the types of experts and even the names of some experts who may be willing to further review the case. HLC does not warrant or guarantee the correctness of its opinions and does not warrant or guarantee any conclusions reached by any expert witnesses recommended by HLC. The Undersigned should think of HLC as simply a service that provides advisory opinions (not guarantees) about whether or not a given case is worthy of further review. The Undersigned understands the nature of the services and the limitations of the services HLC is agreeing to provide. In return for providing these services, HLC will be paid, on a per time or per job basis (that could and will vary from task to task) for each separate evaluation.
The Undersigned acknowledges and agrees to enter into an agreement with HLC to provide certain services in a manner that is consistent with the facts set out in this disclaimer.

Client (on behalf of his or herself, his or her firm, and his or her client):

Signature:_________________________________________Date:_______________

General Comment

HLC has been established to help experienced and novice medical malpractice attorneys determine whether or not medical care has been performed in accordance with applicable medical standards of care.  It is not agreeing to provide an in-depth review of such care, but it is agreeing to review the information it is provided to make a good-faith recommendation about whether or not a set of facts justifies a further, more in-depth review by appropriate expert witnesses.  In other words, HLC will help attorneys make a threshold decision about whether or not a case warrants further time and effort and money by a lawyer.  In making recommendations of this sort, it is important that the client understand HLC’s limitations and the fact that it cannot warrant its work other than to agree to perform the work in good faith and try to give a reasonable recommendation to the client requesting the evaluation.

While HLC cannot give and will not give medical or legal advice, it can assist clients in not only determining whether they have a case that is worthy of pursuit or not, but perform other helpful tasks like providing medical summaries, assisting the attorney in proving causation, doing medical timelines, assisting in the drafting of affidavits and medical narratives, and the like.

HLC is here to assist a client in many ways in the evaluating and processing of medical negligence claims.  Make a reasonable request for our services, and we will try to assist you, no matter how novel the request.