Generally, the statute of limitations is three years for medical malpractice claims or one year from the time the claimant discovered or reasonably should have discovered the injury.
In a recent Court of Appeals ruling (not one of our cases) the patient had foot surgery on February 24, 2016. The patient had a series of follow-up visits in which the surgeon assured the patient that he was healing without complications. That last follow-up with the surgeon was April 5.
Feeling something was not right with his foot, the patient sought a second opinion on July 7. The second doctor took x-rays and concluded that pins had been improperly affixed. The second doctor reviewed the x-rays and explained his findings to the patient on July 28.
The patient filed a lawsuit on July 26, 2019. The trial court dismissed based on the statute of limitations and the patient appealed. The patient argued on appeal that as there was evidence the surgeon know of and concealed the claim, advised the patient to continue with future follow-up visits with him, and therefore there was a continuing course of treatment through July 28 when the patient got the second opinion. Therefore, the statute of limitations should have been calculated as three years from July 28, 2016.[1]
The Court of Appeals disagreed, holding that the statutory language and case law clearly establish that the statute of limitations ran three years from April 5, 2016 (the last allegedly negligent act of the surgeon) or one year from July 28, 2016 (the patient’s discovery of an alleged malpractice injury) and therefore under either scenario the statute of limitations had run before the case was commenced.[2]
It is crucial that you contact an attorney early if you believe you have a medical malpractice or other personal injury claim. An attorney may need to investigate the veracity of the personal injury claim, which make take time. That is particularly important in medical malpractice cases which almost always involve retaining an expert to review the case before it is filed in court. This takes time.
Contact a personal injury attorney promptly for a no-cost case evaluation if you believe you have been injured at someone else’s fault.
[1] Appellant’s Br. 1, 3-4.
[2] Nordwall v. Heit, unpublished (81317-0-I April 26, 2021).