nh personal injury attorney

Was your baby born with Brachial Plexus Palsy?

NH birth injury attorneyBrachial plexus injury is a birth injury that can often be avoided if medical personnel during a woman’s labor are on the ball. When such a birth injury occurs to an infant due to an erroneous diagnosis, procedure, or other medical negligence, the term used to describe this negligence is called “medical malpractice”.

What is a brachial plexus injury in regards to an infant?

A brachial plexus injury is a tear or stretching of the network of nerves that sends signals from the spine to the shoulder, arm and hand. This type of injury normally occurs when the head is pushed away from the shoulder while the shoulder is forcefully pressed down or when the arm is forced above the baby’s head during delivery.

In a brachial plexus birth, palsy occurs when there is damage to nerves exiting the spinal cord where the neck and shoulder are joined and where the nerves coming from further down in your neck affect the forearm and hand. (If only the upper nerves are damaged, the injury is known as “Erb’s palsy.”)

Depending on the severity of the damage, the injury to the baby can be short term or long term. When severe nerve damage occurs, permanent atrophy of the arm, hand and fingers is possible.

How does a brachial plexus birth injury occur?

A brachial plexus birth injury can occur when there is a difficult delivery. It can happen if the labor is prolonged, if the baby presents in a breech position (legs first), or if the baby’s shoulder gets stuck in the mother’s birth canal or under her pelvic bone.

There are several medically approved procedures that should be followed when any of the above occurs. However, under these conditions if the doctor improperly tries to force the baby out using the vacuum method, or creates excessive traction on the baby’s head using forceps, it would be reasoned that the doctor was not using a standard of accepted medical care. If a brachial plexus birth injury occurs as a result, the doctor could be guilty of medical malpractice.

A New Hampshire birth injury attorney will fight for you

If your baby was born with a brachial plexus injury and you live in New Hampshire, you should definitely consult with an experienced New Hampshire birth injury attorney. Your attorney will help you go through the delivery room experience to determine what may have gone wrong. Was the labor prolonged? Was the fetal monitor indicating distress? Was there a sense of urgency in the delivery room? Did the doctor call for additional help?

Your birth injury lawyer will help you gather the evidence you need to prove your case and with his or her knowledge of New Hampshire birth injury law, will be able to proceed with a medical malpractice case for your baby’s injury.

Contact Ryan Russman at Russman Law offices for a free birth injury consultation. Get the full compensation that you and your child deserve.

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nh personal injury attorney

New Hampshire Medical Malpractice

NH Medical Malpractice AttorneyA former New Hampshire woman recently filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against St. Joseph Hospital and two physicians in Nashua. The suit alleges that after several emergency room visits, the hospital and medical personnel failed to properly diagnose bacterial meningitis and as a result she sustained permanent physical impairment. She is asking for 5 million dollars.

What is the legal definition of medical malpractice?

Medical malpractice is defined as the failure of a health care facility or health care personnel to provide a recognized medical standard of care. This type of personal injury occurs when error, incompetence, misconduct or negligence of a doctor or hospital causes injury to a patient. When an injury occurs, a facility or medical practitioner can be held liable allowing the victim to file a medical malpractice lawsuit.

How does medical malpractice occur?

Medical malpractice can occur in many areas of care. The following are the most common:

  • Physician’s misdiagnosis or failure to diagnose a problem
  • Anesthesia errors
  • Emergency room and hospital errors
  • Equipment failure
  • Operating on the wrong part of the patient
  • Infections in hospitals
  • Post operative infections
  • Laboratory mistakes
  • Prescription errors
  • Nursing mistakes
  • Failure to treat patient in a timely manner

What New Hampshire laws pertain to medical malpractice?

New Hampshire law states that when a plaintiff files a medical malpractice claim, he or she must shoulder the burden of proof. Section §507-E:2 of Title LII states that the plaintiff must prove the following:

  • Through testimony, expert and competent witnesses must be able to show that the plaintiff’s claim is valid.
  • The plaintiff must show that the medical care provider failed to act in accordance with the standard of reasonable medical treatment.
  • The plaintiff must show proximate causes, i.e., that the injuries suffered would not have occurred if he or she had received the standard of reasonable medical care.

Some states have placed a cap on how much compensation a victim can receive from medical malpractice claims. There’s no cap on a New Hampshire medical malpractice lawsuit, allowing you to receive the compensation you deserve.

The Statute of Limitations for medical malpractice in New Hampshire has a confusing history. Still on the books is a law stating that there is a two year statute of limitations. However, that statute has been judged to be unconstitutional and the general statute of limitations is now three years from the date that the discovery of the injury has been made.

Why is a medical malpractice lawyer important?

Proving that medical personnel are guilty of medical malpractice is complex and expensive. If you feel you have been a victim of medical malpractice, consult with a personal injury attorney who has a great deal of experience in this particular field of law. An experienced attorney will have the resources to pay for pre-trial evidence expenses and court costs. Almost all personal injury attorneys with a medical malpractice specialty work on a contingency basis — meaning they will not charge you anything unless they win the case for you.

Russman Law Firm offers a free medical malpractice consultation providing an experienced team of medical malpractice attorneys that will fight for the full compensation that you deserve.

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nh personal injury attorney

Are you a victim of a hit-and-run accident?

nh hit and run personal injury attorney

Leaving the scene of an accident, aka hit-and-run accidents, is illegal in every state of the union and yet it continues to occur all too frequently. Statistics have shown that most hit-and-run accidents are the result of the offending driver being intoxicated citing their fear of being charged with DUI.

Just recently, a Newport, New Hampshire man was seriously injured in a hit-and-run accident when crossing the street in the middle of the cross walk. The driver fled the scene but turned himself into the police twenty minutes later because of a guilty conscience. He admitted he had six drinks at a local restaurant before going to work.

What kinds of hit-and-run accidents are there?

Hit-and-run accidents all have one thing in common – the wrongdoer leaves the scene of the accident to escape responsibility. Shoppers sometimes come out of a store only to find their car has been hit by some unknown person. The worst accidents, of course, are those involving bodily injury. Hit-and-run accidents have occurred to animals, pedestrians, motorcycle riders, car and truck drivers, bicyclers, and worst of all, children.

What are the penalties for hit-and-run drivers in New Hampshire?

There are very specific hit-and-run laws in New Hampshire regarding what is to be done when an accident occurs. New Hampshire Statute 264:25 clearly states that people involved in an accident must stop their vehicle and give the injured party their name, address, driver’s license number, registration number of the vehicle and the name and address of each occupant in the tortfeasor’s vehicle. If a police officer arriving at the scene writes an accident report, the need for the above is negated.

Any person failing to obey this law and who leaves the scene of an accident and is eventually apprehended will face hit and run charges of a misdemeanor or a felony, depending upon the circumstances, and can incur fines, probation or prison time.

Further consequences for the hit-and-run driver

In addition to the above-described penalties, a convicted hit-and-run driver is responsible for paying all of the victim’s medical expenses, lost wage, property damage and pain and suffering.

Depending upon the severity of the accident, and whether or not the driver is a repeat offender, his or her driver’s license can be suspended or revoked. The offending driver’s insurance company may increase premiums or drop coverage altogether.

Hit-and-run attorney

If you, a family member or friend has been injured in a hit-and-run accident, you should immediately contact a personal injury law firm. A personal injury attorney can assist law enforcement officials in apprehending the hit-and-run driver and deal directly with the insurance companies so you won’t have to.

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nh personal injury attorney

Low-Impact Accidents in New Hampshire

Nh Personal Injury low impact accidentsIf you suffer whiplash or other injury in a low-impact accident in New Hampshire, chances are your initial insurance claim will be denied.

Insurance companies typically avoid paying claims on low-impact injuries — where the speed at impact was below 15 mph. When an insurance company hears there is little damage to the victim’s vehicle, they maintain that no one can possibly be hurt.

At first glance, the logic behind their denial seems plausible. However, what the insurance companies would like you to believe is not based in scientific or medical facts.

Injuries in low-impact accidents are not caused by speed alone, but by changes in velocity (a measurement that denotes both the speed and the direction a body is moving).

Biomechanical engineering in accident reconstruction

Biomechanical engineers determine if a person could have been injured in a low-impact crash. The process is as follows:

  1. Using specialized computer programs, they input information about the make, model and year of the vehicle, the damage, the accident site and other data.  They then determine the change in speed and direction of the victim’s car upon impact. This reveals the “g” forces applied to the car.
  2. Engineers then input the “g” forces and data regarding the plaintiff (gender, age, weight, height, body position at time of accident, location or lack of headrest, etc.) to see if injury could have been caused by the accident.

Low-impact accident injury types

Soft-tissue injuries to the neck and/or back (commonly called “whiplash”) are the most likely type of injury to occur in low-impact accidents. It involves injury (stretching and tearing) to ligaments, tendons and muscles connected to bones and joints.

These injuries cannot be seen on X-rays or other radiographic tests, so proof of injury has to come from medical records and expert testimony.

More serious injuries consist of disc herniation. Sometimes whiplash can cause traumatic brain injuries.

A 2009 study published in Great Britain’s Emergency Medical Journal cited startling results – low-impact collisions account for two thirds of fatal aortic injuries (aneurysms).

In short, if you’re involved in a low-impact injury, take steps to spare yourself the high cost of paying for treatment as well as your pain and suffering.

New Hampshire Personal Injury Attorney

Don’t give up if an insurance company denies your low-impact accident injury claim. Hire an experienced personal injury lawyer who will take your case to trial if a fair settlement cannot be reached. Your attorney will hire the experts, which can prove vital to winning your case.

Because most New Hampshire personal injury attorneys only get paid if they win your case, you don’t have to worry about paying anything up front.

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