Legal•Info

New Hampshire Medical Malpractice Lawyer

Call (888) 471-5989 to speak with a personal injury attorney.

Medical malpractice can include personal injury or wrongful death. The medical professional who has caused the injury can be sued for accidental negligence and be forced to compensate you; in a case of malicious or deliberate negligence, they may be forced to pay punitive damages. Most hospitals and doctors must by law carry insurance to cover the cost of malpractice suits and therefore do not pay out of pocket. In some states, a hospital may be sued for the actions of their employees but currently New Hampshire has no such precedent on the books.

In the state of New Hampshire, there is a three-year statute of limitations, which can be extended if the claimant can prove that they discovered and reported a personal injury or wrongful death in a reasonable period of time. For example, if a surgeon leaves a sponge in your abdomen and you do not discover it until years later, the statute of limitation's clock would start upon your discovery of the negligence. In most cases a judge will decide if the claimant has standing to sue and if their discovery of the injury was timely and is within the statute of limitations.

Medical malpractice law is a highly technical field of law, and malpractice lawsuits require the assistance of an attorney who has experience and expertise in this legal arena. Even within the specialized practice of medical malpractice law, some lawyers have subspecialties of practice. Some may focus on surgical errors or medication errors, while others specialize in misdiagnosis or birth trauma cases.

In any medical malpractice case, certain requirements must be fulfilled in order for the case to be successful. The attorney will have to show that a there was a duty owed to the patient by the care provider, with regard to the care or treatment of a person. Showing that the duty was breached is also important, and an expert who provides testimony can show that the accepted standard of care was not followed. The attorney must also show that the breach caused an injury, and that specific damages resulted from the injury. If there are no damages, then there is no basis for a claim, even if the medical provider was negligent.

If you have been injured and are looking for an attorney you will want to bear in mind that you will need competent representation by a lawyer or firm which has the resources to find experts to testify and to investigate the claims thoroughly. As most malpractice cases are contingency cases, meaning you don't pay unless you win, it is important to ensure your lawyer can handle the financial aspects of the case. There are no specific limits on fees an attorney can charge in the state of New Hampshire, but if the fees exceed $200,000 it must be approved by the court.

Often one of the highest costs in a medical malpractice case is for expert witness fees. Expert witnesses are health care professionals who can testify to the appropriate standard of medical care, how the defendant deviated from this standard, and how the patient\'s injury was related to this deviation from the standard. And only in rare cases, where the medical error is so obvious that it does not require specific medical knowledge to understand the circumstances, is an expert witness not required.

There are also caps on damage amounts that may pertain to your case. Take the time to interview several attorneys or contact your local Bar Association to get some names of attorneys who may specialize in your type of injury. You deserve the best representation, and the difficult process of litigation is made easier by a qualified, competent attorney on your side.