What to Expect When You Call Us
The first conversation isn’t about paperwork. It’s about listening. We will ask you to walk through what happened: the symptoms, the timeline, what was said in the emergency room, and what discharge looked like. From there, our firm requests the medical records and imaging and puts them in front of independent medical experts who aren’t affiliated with the hospital or providers involved.
That review looks at one core question: did the care your loved one received meet the standard a reasonably careful provider would have followed in the same situation? Sometimes the answer is yes, the outcome was tragic, but nothing was done wrong. That’s a legitimate and useful finding. It closes a loop. Other times, the review turns up a gap between what should have happened and what did.
Either way, you walk away with something you didn’t have before: clarity. There’s no cost and no commitment to move forward with a case just because you asked the question.
How Strokes Get Missed in the First Place
Stroke misdiagnosis rarely comes down to a single obvious mistake. More often it’s a chain of smaller ones. Symptoms get attributed to something else entirely, such as vertigo, migraine, intoxication, or a panic attack, especially when they’re subtle or atypical. Brainstem strokes are notoriously hard to catch this way, since they can produce dizziness, double vision, or slurred speech without the more recognizable one-sided weakness people associate with stroke.
Imaging issues and delays are another common thread, e.g., a scan that should have happened within the hour but didn’t happen for several hours or wasn’t ordered until symptoms had progressed. So is early discharge, where a patient is sent home with a diagnosis of something benign before the actual event fully declares itself. And in some cases, a neurology consult that should have happened in the emergency department never gets requested at all.
The outcomes when a stroke is missed range widely from a partial, recoverable disability to catastrophic, permanent impairment, including locked-in syndrome, to death. A medical review looks at where in that chain the breakdown may have occurred, and whether it reflects a departure from what should have happened, not just a bad outcome from a disease that is, by nature, unpredictable.
The Reality of Stroke Care Across New Hampshire
New Hampshire’s geography shapes how stroke care actually plays out here. The North Country and much of the state outside of Portsmouth and Lebanon sit well outside the drive time to a certified comprehensive stroke center, meaning a patient’s outcome can hinge heavily on how quickly a rural hospital recognizes the stroke and initiates transfer, before an ambulance or helicopter ride even begins.
How long that transfer step takes, called door-in-door-out time (DIDO), is itself a recognized marker of stroke system performance nationally. Rural, lower-volume EDs tend to run slower on it than urban academic centers, largely because the imaging, consult, and transfer coordination steps take longer without dedicated stroke protocols in place. Almost half of New Hampshire residents live in a rural area, making this an important factor in stroke care across the state.
None of this excuses a missed diagnosis; a hospital’s location doesn’t change what a reasonable provider should have recognized or acted on. But it is useful context for understanding why delays happen, and it’s part of what an independent review accounts for when it reconstructs the timeline of your loved one’s care.
Our Process
We guide you through every step with clear communication and compassionate support.
Free Consultation
Call us anytime to discuss your case. We listen carefully and answer all your questions with no obligation.
Medical Review
Our team conducts a thorough investigation with qualified medical experts to determine if malpractice occurred.
Legal Action
If we find evidence of negligence, we build a strong case and handle all legal aspects on your behalf.
Secure Recovery
We fight to secure the financial resources your family needs for long-term care and peace of mind.
From Understanding to Deciding What’s Next
If the review does turn up a departure from the standard of care, the next phase is up to you. You can choose to use the information we gather for closure, or we can help you hold the medical provider liable. If you choose to hold the medical professional liable, the next step is building the actual legal case, which is a different, more technical undertaking than the review itself. It requires establishing what should have happened, what did happen, and how the gap between the two caused or worsened the injury. Responsibility can rest with:
- A single physician
- An emergency department as a whole
- A hospital system
- A combination of several responsible parties
The review process is often what reveals where the fault actually lies.
None of this is about punishment. The goal is to secure whatever resources your family may need going forward, including ongoing medical care, rehabilitation, lost income, home modifications, or simply financial stability during a period that’s already been upended. Families move at their own pace here. Some want to proceed immediately; others need time. Both are fine.
If you’re at the stage where you’re thinking about preserving information, a few things are worth holding onto now, before they become harder to track down:
- Complete medical records
- Imaging discs or files
- A written timeline of what happened and when
- Discharge paperwork
- Notes from any conversations you had with providers along the way
Talk To Our Legal Team Today
We’re here to answer your questions and help you understand your options.
Schedule a Free Consultation
What You Can Expect to Pay for Long-Term Care in New Hampshire
When a stroke results in lasting disability, the financial picture often becomes a big part of the conversation. New Hampshire consistently ranks among the more expensive states in the country for long-term care, running well above national medians.
| Type of Care | Estimated Cost in New Hampshire |
| Private duty nurse (hourly rate) | $195/hour |
| Private duty nurse (visit rate) | $200/visit |
| Long-term care facility, e.g., nursing home (semi-private room) | $146,913/year |
| Long-term care facility, e.g., nursing home (private room) | $161,330/year |
Source: Genworth
For a family facing years of nursing-level care after a severe stroke, these numbers add up quickly, often into hundreds of thousands of dollars over a decade.
Transfer Delays and Their Effect on Care
A 2023 JAMA study of over 100,000 stroke transfer patients nationwide found a median “door-in-door-out” time—the time between a patient’s arrival at the first hospital and departure for a stroke center — of 174 minutes overall, nearly 50% longer than the 120-minute benchmark recommended by the Brain Attack Coalition and the Joint Commission. New Hampshire’s median DIDO time was:
- 126 to 131 minutes for acute ischemic stroke eligible for endovascular therapy
- 194 to 215 minutes for other acute ischemic stroke
The same research found that rural transferring hospitals and lower-volume EDs tend to run slower on this measure than urban, high-volume centers; this is a pattern relevant to a state like New Hampshire, where a meaningful share of stroke patients first present outside the state’s certified stroke centers. When a medical review examines your loved one’s case, this kind of transfer and treatment timeline is often central to understanding what happened between arrival and diagnosis.
Why Trust Our Firm With Your Family’s Case?
Families come to us at a difficult moment, and the first thing we do is listen — not for intake paperwork, just to learn more about what happened. From there, we coordinate the medical review with genuinely independent experts, not people who have a stake in defending a hospital’s reputation.
You’ll have direct access to your stroke misdiagnosis attorney throughout, not a rotating cast of case managers. We keep caseloads limited on purpose, so families stay in control of their own case rather than becoming one of hundreds moving through a system. We’ve handled complex stroke and catastrophic injury cases before, and we understand both the medical and legal terrain involved. And there are no fees unless we recover compensation for your family.
Ready to Get Answers?
You don’t have to know what you want to do yet. That’s what the consultation is for. It’s free, it’s confidential, and there’s no obligation attached to it. If you’re carrying questions about a loved one’s stroke diagnosis, Newsome Law is here to help you understand what happened and what it might mean for your family going forward.
What Our Clients Say
Real stories from families we've helped through difficult times.
5.0
Newsome Law are fantastic! They have been working on my case for the past 3+ years and I have not once had a bad experience with anyone who works there. They have worked tirelessly to help me through my accident and the medical bills that loomed overhead. I am extremely pleased and grateful to have them, fighting on my side during this period in my life.
5.0
Selecting a Law Firm in a time of tragedy , is one of the most important decisions you will make in your lifetime. There are so many Firms out there that will chase you down , make unrealistic commitments and set unrealistic expectations. This is the last thing that is needed in such a painful and difficult time
Newsome Law Is a step above all the rest. They are not some run-of-the-mill Firm. But rather an experienced Team of established excellence and success. As one of Newsome Law’s grateful clients, they always operated in the best interest of my family. Were always available to take my call , and were compassionate to the pain and needs of my family. Newsome Law is the right Firm for you to choose.
5.0
5 Stars???!!!! These guys deserve the universe!!!!!!! They came through with every promise and were professional, diligent, smart, friendly, and understanding of the situation I was going through every step of the way. Very happy with the customer service so if that’s a thing for you, that’s another reason to go here. Honestly you will be making a mistake if you don’t go here. Rich is top tier in the US for attorneys and he definitely fought hard to get the job done here. If you want your money… GO HERE!!!!!!!
5.0
Newsome Law represented me in a very positive manner. Always professional, courteous, supportive and attentive. They were always able to keep me apprised of the status of my case. The team on my case were always easy to work with and on top of all issues. I never had to wonder where we were at in the process. I would recommend them to anyone needing this type of help in the future.
5.0
Just an amazing experience with the Newsome Law firm. Our case was very sensitive and close to our hearts. We were treated with the utmost respect for our situation and everything was handled in a professional and timely manner. We cannot say enough good things about the entire team!
5.0
I am so pleased to have worked with this firm. The attention to detail, time spent one on one, not feeling like I was just a number and someone truly caring about what was going on with me and my case was more than I could have ever hoped for. I will use this firm again if I ever need one and will recommend to everyone who asks to reach out to Newsome Law if they find they ever need someone to represent them. More than pleased and happy with everyone and everything from the office. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
5.0
I am so pleased to have worked with this firm. They went above and beyond for my sons case. I would highly recommend this firm to anyone. Always communicated with us, always answered all our questions and fought for my sons case to get the best. Newsome Law thank so much again for all you did. God Bless!
5.0
Partnered with this law firm under unfortunate circumstances and ended up being a great success. They understood the mission and intent, and collectively, conducted all of the behind the scenes work, resulting in a successful end result. If you want one of the best, here’s your opportunity and highly recommended.
5.0
When you’re in a hospital bed all jacked up from an accident and you google best personal injury attorneys, this is who you will find, and they are. Never had been in a lawsuit before and had never needed an attorney. They took such amazing care of me, and handled everything so professionally. A great team of paralegals and attorneys. Thank you so much guys.
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