What Makes New Hampshire's Medical Malpractice Laws Unique?

Each state has unique laws specifically governing medical malpractice and medical liability trials, so it is important for your lawyer to be fully experienced in the laws and the courts in the state where your injury occurred. What is unique to NH's med mal laws? Most notably in NH, the state has no limits or caps on damage awards. In addition, the state requires any claims filed to be reviewed by a pretrial screening panel to identify claims that merit compensation and to encourage early resolution of claims before going to trial.

Based on a listing of medical liability and malpractice laws compiled by the National Conference of State Legislatures, 16 states do not have a damage award limit or cap, 36 jurisdictions have a limit or cap. New Hampshire is one of the states that does not limit damages. In fact, the State Supreme Court (see Carson v. Maurer, 120 N.H. 925, 424 A.2d 825 (1980) and Brannigan v. Usitalso, 134 N.H. 50, 587 A.2d 1232 (1991)) has declared limits on non-economic damages (§507-C:7) as unconstitutional. Here is a link to laws governing New Hampshire's screening panels for medical injury claims.

For a comprehensive list of state-by-state laws governing medical malpractice and liability suits, see www.ncsl.org.