Plainline Chart ReviewJoel Sahulka, BSN, RN · Lincoln, Nebraska

Medical records, read by a nurse. Explained in plain English.

I'm Joel Sahulka, a BSN-prepared registered nurse in Lincoln, Nebraska. My background is hospital bedside nursing, including oncology, and healthcare quality data. I read medical records closely, build clear chronologies, and point out the gaps, delays, and contradictions worth a closer look.

Talk about a case See my services

Active Nebraska RN license · Hospital bedside nursing background · Healthcare quality-data experience

Services

Send me the records. I'll read them as a nurse and give you organized, page-cited work you can check against the source.

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Medical Record Review

I read the full record, not just the highlights. You get a summary of what happened, what's missing, and where the documentation doesn't line up.

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Medical Chronologies

A date-by-date timeline of care with page citations back to the source records. Quick to scan, and easy to check when you're preparing for a deposition.

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Case Screening

A focused first read of the key records, with a short memo on what the chart shows, where it's strong or thin medically, and what's still unclear. $350 flat (up to 3 hours, then hourly).

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Standard-of-Care Review

I compare the care in the record against accepted nursing and clinical practice, cite my sources, and tell you plainly where it looks sound and where it raises questions.

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Damages & Treatment Summaries

Injuries, treatment, ongoing care, restrictions, and related medical costs, pulled from scattered records into one clear document.

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Medical Literature Research

The clinical guidelines and articles that bear on your case, summarized in plain language so the medicine is easier to follow.

I'm a nurse, not a lawyer, and I don't give legal advice. I work under your direction on the medical side of your case. Record review and chronologies are $115/hr, billed in quarter-hour increments, with a 3-hour retainer ($345) before work begins. Standard turnaround is 7 business days (often sooner). A 72-hour rush, when available, is about 25% more. I don't offer expert witness testimony.

Who I Help

I work with plaintiff personal-injury and workers' comp firms. Pick a practice area to see where I fit.

Injury treatment & recoveryDelayed diagnosis & treatmentWork status & restrictionsMissed follow-ups & care gapsMedical-surgical nursing

Every case is screened for conflicts before I start. If I'm not the right fit, I'll tell you up front.

Why an RN?

Physician experts give opinions on diagnosis and causation, and many cases need one. A nurse adds something different.

Nurses live in the chart.

Nursing notes, vitals, medications, therapy notes, and the day-to-day course of care often run to hundreds of pages. I organize all of it into a timeline and point out what stands out, so your time with a physician expert goes to the right questions, and you have an early sense of what kind of expert the case may need.

I know how a chart is built.

I've written nursing notes, medication records, and care plans myself. I know where to look, and what it means when something isn't there.

I know nursing care from the inside.

My years at the bedside, including floating to other units, taught me how assessment, treatment, and recovery usually unfold for patients, and what it looks like in the chart when they don't.

I'm a data person, too.

My current work is in healthcare quality data, building reports where the details have to be right. I bring the same care to every chronology and summary.

I write for busy people.

You get plain-English findings, the page numbers behind them, and honest notes on what the record can't tell us.

How It Works

Tap a step for details. Turnaround: standard 7 business days, often sooner. 72-hour rush when available, at about 25% more.

Quick call

A free 15-minute case-fit call. Tell me about the case and what you need, we check for conflicts, and we agree on scope.

Clear quote

You get a written estimate and engagement letter before any work starts.

Send the records

Share them through your firm's secure portal or upload link, never by email.

Review & analysis

I read and organize the records, and send you questions as they come up instead of saving them for the end.

Work product

A cited report or chronology in Word, PDF, or Excel, then a short call to walk through what I found.

From the Blog

Practical notes on reading medical records, for attorneys and their teams.

Record review

What a Nurse Looks For in the First Hour of a Record Review

The first things I check when new records arrive: completeness, dates, and the story the nursing notes tell.

Read the post →

Chronologies

Medical Chronologies: What Makes One Useful (and What Makes One a Waste of Paper)

What a good chronology includes, from source citations to flagged gaps, using a fictional sample case.

Read the post →

Records

Reading an Injury Chart: Five Things Non-Nurses Often Miss

Five details, like work-status notes and gaps between visits, that often matter more than they first appear.

Coming soon

Have a case with a stack of medical records?

Send a short note about the case: the type of claim, roughly how many pages of records, and your deadline. I'll reply within 1 business day.

Joel.Sahulka@gmail.com
(402) 297-0529
Lincoln, Nebraska · Serving Nebraska and Iowa plaintiff personal-injury and workers' comp firms

A quick note on timing: new reviews pause after Nov 6, and I'm booking again starting in early December. Messages sent between Nov 15 and Dec 3 will get a reply by Dec 4.