That's exactly what I told the phlebotomist repeatedly when it happened to me. Felt like a bare electric wire was put on my arm.

Prior to seeing your lawyer for the first time, you need to sit down and right out exactly what happened, to the best of your recollection. What happened. Who did you talk to and when. What did they say. What were your symptoms then, a week later, a month later, six months later, and now. How has it affected your life (work, family, hobbies, etc.). What doctors have you seen for the initial injury and since then. What did they say. Your lawyer can request your medical records.

You will be better off from a litigation standpoint if (1) you have good documentation (i.e you kept records of who you talked to and when, and what they said), (2) you sought medical treatment soon after the injury and have seen doctors multiple times since for symptoms resulting from the injury - this goes a long way toward proving causation, (3) you can document actual damages from this, and (4) you are able to prove actual negligence - i.e. your lawyer can show that the phlebotomist did not follow the standard of care for drawing blood.

Anticipate that pursuing a settlement or lawsuit from a venipuncture nerve injury is likely to take a long time. I saw my lawyer (who is also an R.N.) the first time a year after the injury, and because my symptoms were still "evolving", he said that we needed to wait another year to see where I was at after 2 years. Then it took another year to get all of the information we needed, since one of my (retired) neurologists was ill and inaccessible. Right now we have a lawsuit filed, but my lawyer is still working on negotiating a settlement with the claims adjuster. There's a delay as their physician consultant reviews my extensive medical records from this.

My lawyer tells me that I have a good case because the standard of care wasn't followed, I have clear damages, and I documented everything that happened starting right after the injury (thanks to long-ago advice from my mom, who always told me stories from when she was a r.n. and hospital administrator). My mom, who negotiated lawsuits for her hospital, has told me repeatedly that I have a very good case.

So, here I am, waiting for this part to end. It's not the money at this point. If I wasn't suing a "national blood donation organization", I'd be asking for a helluva lot more. It's not the money. Naively, I want them to change their ways. I want this settlement or lawsuit to catch their attention. I want them to train their phlebotomists better so that blood donors have less risk of "adverse donor events". As a scientist, I've really dug up a lot of information, and am pretty ****** off at what I've learned about the lack of protection for blood donors in general.

Ok, now I'm done venting.

Good luck with the lawyer. Oh, and I hate to even say this, but be prepared that they may not take your case if they don't think they will win.