New Hampshire malpractice is defined as an error or negligent action performed by a medical professional that caused injury or harm to the patient. Not every error is considered malpractice, however, and certain criteria must be met for the damages to be considered a result of medical malpractice.

In order for someone to legitimately claim New Hampshire malpractice, there must be three elements present in their case:

The law says that in order to prove that malpractice occurred you must first establish that the physician had a duty to treat or care for the patient.  Typically when a patient seeks treatment at a hospital, clinic or doctor’s office, the medical professionals working there are under a certain duty to provide them adequate treatment so this element is usually the easiest to prove.

Once it has been established that the medical professional in question did, in fact, have a duty of care to the patient, the next step is to prove that said duty was breached in some way. 

If a patient sought care and was exhibiting certain symptoms, but the doctor who examined him did not run all the proper tests to aid in diagnosing the problem, then the doctor has breached his duty of care to the patient.  

This is perhaps the most important element of New Hampshire malpractice because without it there is no case. Using the same scenario as above, if the doctor did not run the right tests but the patient was not harmed in any way, there is no malpractice present.

If, on the other hand, the patient was actually suffering from a disease, such as cancer, and the lack of testing failed to uncover this, the potential harm to the patient is significant.

If all three criteria are met, there may be a legitimate case of New Hampshire malpractice. The next step should be contacting a qualified, experienced medical attorney. These professionals are familiar with which cases are strong enough to pursue and are well versed in New Hampshire malpractice law, which is complicated and complex.

Some of the more common types of malpractice typically involve medication errors, failed or misdiagnosis, failure to provide adequate treatment, delay in treatment, surgical errors and wrongful death, however there are many other scenarios in which a medical error can result in malpractice. Anyone who feels they have been a victim should contact a New Hampshire malpractice lawyer today to discuss their rights.