Benchmark Medical Consultants has provided more than 2,000 attorneys and insurance professionals with objective, authoritative medical expertise spanning more than 50,000 cases over the past 20 years. A single phone call to Benchmark provides access to the most highly credentialed and supported network of board-certified practicing physicians in the Country. The turn-key administrative support we provide our consultants enables us to attract the very best, actively-practicing, board-certified physicians to perform your examinations, record reviews and court testimony services.

Consisting of 1,400+ medical and forensic experts spanning more than 250 specialties, every single expert in our network:

Dr. Howard Caston has been providing Vocational Services for Disabled Individuals as an independent practitioner since 1983. He has contracted with vendors such as government agencies, attorneys, insurance companies, managed care organizations, and others. Dr. Caston has previously worked for Goodwill Industries as a rehabilitation coordinator and the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission-Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation as a rehabilitation counselor, counselor manager, and rehabilitation supervisor.

Dr. Caston holds a Ph.D. in Vocational Rehabilitation from the University of Cincinnati and has taught rehabilitation courses for graduate students at the University of Cincinnati and Wright State University. He has also taught vocational rehabilitation courses at Capital University Law School for life care planners.

Dr. caston's professional, competent, vocational opinions are provided at the request of attorneys. Opinions can be given when called to testify in court concerning vocational abilities of individuals who are involved in litigation. Dr. Caston has qualified as an expert vocational witness in numerous courts.

Kristy Farnsworth is a Board Certified Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor and Licensed Psychologist. She has provided a wide range of Vocational Rehabilitation services for the past 27 years. Dr. Farnsworth's board certifications and experience have allowed her to focus on the analysis and evaluation of a variety of cases.

Areas of Expertise:

Frangeli’s Consulting Division specializes in providing construction cost analysis for home modifications that their clients need after a catastrophic injury. Our goal is to assist in securing funds that will ensure that your client’s house can become a home for a lifetime

Frangeli Consulting & Remodeling is a niche company that works for individuals with a special need in order to make their homes accessible after an injury. We are staffed with licensed physical therapists as well as licensed home improvement contractors to ensure excellence in both a consulting and remodeling capacity.

Not only can we provide you with the theory behind the modifications that you would expect in any expert witness firm, but we are armed with the practical “know how” of the construction side of the process as well. Our experience and expertise in this arena is second to none.

Services Offered:

Gary Young is a Rehabilitation Consultant with over 30 years of experience providing Rehabilitation Case Management Services. He specializes in Catastrophic Case Management, and is a consultant on Americans with Disabilities Act issues providing sensitivity training, compliance issues, job analysis and employee training sessions.

Mr. Young has spoken at over 50 seminars on legal, medical and insurance related issues. Topics include Americans with Disabilities Act, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, Severe Orthopedic Injuries, Vocational Evaluations, etc. He has been accepted as an expert in 8 states for workers compensation and litigation matters.

Areas of Expertise:

• Economic Loss Evaluations
• Projections in Injury Cases Focusing on Residual Productive Skill & Value
• Future, Vocational & Economic Projections
• Placement Services

Determining Worker Employability & Earning Capacity- Vocational Testing, Earning Capacity Studies, Vocational Rehabilitation, Assistive Technology Evaluations, Job Analysis, Workplace Accommodation Services, Expert Witness Testimony, in divorce, personal injury, discrimination, wrongful termination, Workers’ Compensation including repetitive stress (ergonomic injuries), medical/hospital malpractice cases.

Earning Capacity Studies include Transferable Skills Analysis, Labor Market Surveys, Pre-injury and Post-injury Earning Assessments and Life Care Planning. Extensive experience in vocational rehabilitation – public, non-profit and private sectors. Unique expertise in recommending workplace accommodations and assistive technology to aid in returning to work. Certified Life Care Planners. No geographic limits.

Since 1983, Medical Advisors, Inc. / Technical Network Consulting Service has assisted in the selection of experts in several thousand cases. Working with plaintiff and defense bar, we have provided opinions and testimony which have resulted in competent preparation and in-court support for cases involving scientific, technical, engineering matters as well as medical malpractice, hospital negligence, personal injury, workers’ compensation, product liability and nursing homes. A detailed telephone consultation explores all aspects of your case. This simplifies the job of finding the right expert.

Jerry Albert has over 30 years of experience in all realm of Worker's Compensation. He is known as an innovator in the area of Disability Management and Vocational Rehabilitation Expert Services for Persons with Acute or Chronic Illnesses or Injuries.

Mr. Albert has partnered with employers, insurers, claim administrators and agencies to achieve the goal of restoring Physical Function and returning injured workers to employment. He has extensive experience in reviewing the areas of: Rehabilitation, Life Care Planning, Medical Records, and Vocational & Nursing Related Issues.

Areas of Expert Practice:

Michele Nielsen is a Legal Nurse Consultant and Nationally Certified Medical Case Manager, Vocational Counselor, and Life Care Planner, with 25 years of experience. She is licensed to practice nursing in Oregon and Washington. Ms. Nielsen has received national awards such as Outstanding Rehabilitation Professional and Outstanding Rehabilitation Nurse.

Ms. Nielsen provides full-service Legal Nurse Consulting and Life Care Planning, Specializing in Medical Malpractice, Personal Injury, and Workers' Compensation.

Expertise & Services Include:

Dr. James Patrick, Ph.D., has over 25 years of experience as a Certified Life Care Planner, Certified Rehabilitation Counselor, Senior Disability Analyst, and a Qualified Rehabilitation Provider in the state of Florida. Dr. Patrick's experience includes Rehabilitation, working with Adults, Children and Families. He provides Life Care Plans, Vocational Assessments, Family Assessments, Job Placement and Job Development.

Dr. Patrick also provides a continuum of services from the development of a Life Care Plan or Vocational Assessment through to coordinating future services. This continuum includes supporting all recommendations made in the Life Care Plan or Vocational Assessment, working with the individual as Case Manager, providing Medical Care coordination and coordinating services in the future. Additionally, he can provide consultation to those involved in the care of an individual (i.e., family, guardian, trustee, advocate, or case manager) to assist in making Healthcare Decisions.

Services Include:

RPC assists attorneys in Personal Injury, Commercial and Healthcare litigation, with economic damages and regulatory analysis, from loss of profits or earnings to contract disputes, business valuation, state and federal anti-trust disputes, and fraud and abuse investigations. Indepth experience in healthcare liability and damage issues.

RPC has prepared damage studies covering the construction, technology, manufacturing, waste management, trucking, public utility, real estate, healthcare, managed care and other industries and professions. Clients nationwide.

Led by Ronald T. Luke, PhD, JD, RPC’s experienced team of professional staff has backgrounds in law, medicine, economics, accounting, business valuation, health administration, nursing, life care planning, finance, and vocational assessment, and provide an integrated damages analysis. The RPC team works closely with litigators from discovery to mediation to trial to understand the issues in the case to develop an independent analysis of those issues and to provide a professional critique of the work of experts retained by other parties to the litigation.

Dr. Luke and his colleagues have been accepted as expert witnesses in state and federal courts and before administrative agencies in more than 25 states, and have testified in regulatory proceedings and consulted on projects for major national hospital chains, as well as community hospitals.

Because of RPC's multi-disciplined staff and large-scale document management and data management resources, it is capable of handling large cases.

Areas of Expertise:

Ms. Roughan is a Rehabilitation Nurse Specialist who functions in the capacity of case manager, life care planner and expert witness. Her company, Roughan & Associates at LINC, is a nationally recognized Case Management and Medical/Legal Consulting service. It has been in existence since 1987, providing coordination of patient care; construction of Life Care Plans; and, consultative services to both the defense and plaintiff bar on simple and complex cases alike. Ms. Roughan has experience with diagnoses involving both children and adults and are knowledgeable in current treatment philosophies, identification of appropriate resources.

Diagnoses include, but are not limited to:

Cassandra Lynn Hall Valdivia RN, BSN, LNC, CNLCP is a Life Care Planner and Legal Nurse Consultant as well as, Co-founder of Songer Valdivia and Associates Legal Nurse Consultants she has experience in clinical areas including Progressive Care, ICU, Emergency Room, Case Management, and Quality Management. .

Cassandra actively practices nursing in the Emergency Room.

CERTIFIED NURSE LIFE CARE PLANNING:

As a nurse, Cassandra is uniquely positioned to provide comprehensive holistic evaluations of clients with catastrophic injuries for both the plaintiff and the defense. Her experience in Quality Management provides an understanding of billing and coding allowing for more exact financial evaluations. She has been retained as an expert on cases for both the plaintiff and defense. Additionally, she has been retained as an advisor for economists in personal injury cases.

CASE MANAGEMENT SERVICES PROVIDED:

Shannon Debedout, B.A., M.Ed., CRC, CVE, CCM is a Vocational Economic Analyst. She provides Expert Witness Testimony regarding information from assessments, medical care coordination, vocational evaluation and rehabilitation economic analysis. Her services are beneficial in Medical Malpractice, Personal Injury, Medicare Set Aside, Employment Law, Divorce, Workers Compensation and SSDI cases.

Ms. Debedout evaluates the nature and extent of alleged loss from a vocational and/or economic perspective by comparing earnings capacity pre and post incident to identify if change in earnings capacity exists.

Ms. Debedout evaluations include the medical, social, mental and vocational aspects of disability. Her Rehabilitation Plan outlines services that can improve quality of life and identify what is needed to return the individual to appropriate work.

Areas of Expertise:

Vocational & Rehabilitation Services offers Vocational, Employability, Earning Capacity Evaluations, Vocational Rehabilitation, Disability Management, Job Analysis and Expert Testimony in personal injury, matrimonial, employment discrimination, workers’ compensation, malpractice, Longshore and harbor Workers, Jones Act, FELA and long term disability cases.

Rehabilitation Evaluation services include scientific assessment of Transferable Skills, Labor Market and Wage Surveys, Pre- and Post-Injury Employability and Earning Capacity Determinations, and Life Care Planning to determine needs and costs of future care.

Licensed and Board Certified Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors and Certified Life Care Planners are available for the following: