Who Am I?
My name is Mike Kennedy. I am a nursing graduate from the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing and Health (1986). I am also a Legal Nurse Consultant (LNC); I graduated from Sullivan University in 2002.

During the next 17 years, I was granted the opportunity to experience patient care in the areas of: surgery (neurological, orthopedic, vascular, cardiac, plastic, periodontal, etc.), general floor nursing, ICU nursing (medical and surgical ICU, oncology ICU, cardiac ICU, and vascular ICU), emergency medicine (emergency rooms as a nurse and a paramedic). I have also experienced working for the largest insurance company (HMO) in Cincinnati. I worked for a well respected Home IV Infusion company, a Nursing Agency, and the largest Hospice in Cincinnati.

Finally, I also have extensive experience working in several of our local Extended Care Facilities (Nursing Homes).

What am I doing?
Through all of the above healthcare experiences and all the years practicing at the patient's bedside, I began to recognize a need not being filled by today's Healthcare system. Few, if any, hospital personnel had time to explain to the patient and their family all that was happening to the patient in a way that was easy for them to understand. The information was too complicated and too time consuming for hospital personnel to spend the time necessary with the patient and family. Doctors and hospital staff are just too busy. Therefore, questions and emotions the family might have in abundance could never be dealt with in a way that was comforting to the family. Often this left the family intimidated, confused and frustrated.

Because of changes in our healthcare system over the last 20 years, everyone is being compelled to do so much more with too few resources and too little time.

Therefore, "The Family Advocate" is an experienced medical professional available to the patient and the family. "The Family Advocate" can and will investigate for the family all they need to know about what is going on in the hospital. "The Family Advocate" can present to the family all there is to know about the patient's health status and condition. This information will include test and procedure results, medications the patient is being given, what is currently known about the patient, and what is the expected outcome for the patient in the future.

A "Family Advocate" can also visit nursing home patients to help keep the family and next-of-kin (especially out of town family) up-to-date and informed about the resident's current health status, dietary intake and social and emotional status, among other things. This can be a very comforting asset to families who cannot visit their family member in the nursing home as often as they would like.

A "Family Advocate" can come into the patient's home to help answer questions about the patient's current condition, medication, hospital equipment, therapy and care options. The Advocate can then speak with doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other care givers to help the rest of the family understand other community resources available to help the patient and family.

A "Family Advocate" can also assist a physician's office who has a patient who needs a more detailed explanation of a diagnosis or disease state. For example, many cancer patients don't hear anything after their doctor tells them they have "cancer." This normal reaction can prevent the patient from receiving much-needed information during a time of crisis. Or, a doctor may want information presented to his patient in an easy-to-understand way in the comfortable surroundings of the patient's home. Often, a detailed explanation of a disease, a medication, a treatment option or a community resource will need to be presented to the patient or a family member more than once, or after hours, or on the weekend when the doctor's office is closed.

As a Legal Nurse Consultant, "The Family Advocate" can help Attorneys, Insurance Companies, and other Investigators understand any and all components of medicine and the law. See: "Legal Nurse Consultant" (below)

Legal Nurse Consultant (LNC):
I have also been educated as a Legal Nurse Consultant. I graduated (Summa cum Laude) from Sullivan University in June of 2002.

Legal Nurse Consulting is a rapidly growing specialty of nursing. The American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants (AALNC) was founded in 1989. (See www.aalnc.org

The scope of practice for a LNC can include: Medical Malpractice, Personal Injury, Complex Litigation, Product Liability and Toxic Torts, Worker's Compensation, Life-Care Planning, Criminal Law/Medical Investigations, Assault and Death Investigations among others.

My education allows me to help patients, families, lawyers, insurance companies and others understand how the law and medicine interact with each other. I am currently practicing as an independent LNC and Family Advocate.

Our Preferred Customers are:

• A patient in the hospital for more than several days
• A patient in the hospital in critical condition
• A trauma patient or a patient requiring long-term rehabilitation
• A family or patient who feels communication needs to improve between the hospital staff, the doctors and the family
• A Nursing Home patient whose next-of-kin does not live in Cincinnati and would like to have someone look in on the patient and report back to them
• A patient (in-hospital or in-home) who needs to understand a medical diagnosis or treatment option more completely
• An Insurance company who would like help understanding medical claims or medical terminology
• A malpractice attorney who would like to evaluate pending malpractice litigation

  And finally,

• A Nursing Home or Long Term Care Facility who would like to relieve some of their responsibility for reporting to the family

Today, healthcare is far too personal and important to leave the details unnoticed.

Please call The Family Advocate when you need Healthcare explained.

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Michael Kennedy RN, BSN, LNC
10999 Reed Hartman Hwy
Suite 304-H
Cincinnati, OH 45242
513.891.5088 (phone)
513.546.4118 (cell)
michael@thefamilyadvocate.com (email)