Medical Malpractice Statute of Limitations
When you get injured due to the negligence of a doctor or other medical professional, it is often difficult for people to know exactly what the next step should be. The vast majority of us did not go to medical school after all.
While your primary concern after an incident of medical malpractice should be getting better, your secondary response should be to contact an experienced medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible. Because once you have been injured, the clock starts ticking.
As attorneys in the D.C. metropolitan area, we are in the unique position of practicing law in three separate jurisdictions. Maryland has a different way of doing things, as does Virginia, as does the District of Columbia. And this means that each jurisdiction has differing standards for medical malpractice, and that includes the statute of limitations.
A statute of limitations is the maximum period of time in which legal proceedings can be initiated. For instance, if at the age of 38 you admit to having shoplifted a candy bar from a store when you were 10, the owner of the store cannot order you to be arrested and the state in which you stole the candy bar cannot prosecute you. A statute of limitations exists for every legal scenario except murder. So if you get injured due to the actions of a doctor, surgeon or nurse, you have a limited window of opportunity in which to act.
According to Section 5-109 of the Maryland Courts and Judicial Proceedings, a person who was injured due to medical malpractice has five years from the date of the instance of malpractice or three years from the discovery of the injury. That two year distinction is given because due to the very nature of medical malpractice, it can sometimes take quite some time before a medical mistake or error begins to noticeably affect the victim. A mistake made during surgery could go unnoticed for six days or six weeks or even six months, but it is doubtful that a mistake by a doctor that was made five years ago could take that long to affect a patient. The five years and three years windows are designed to provide a fair amount of time for any potential problems to manifest themselves. But once this window of time expires, you have no case, regardless of whether there is merit in it or not.
Virginia has an even smaller window of time for medical malpractice victims. If you are injured due to medical malpractice in Virginia, you only have two years from the date of the injury. Barring two exceptions, there is no provision for the date of the discovery of the injury. The first exception involves foreign objects:
In cases arising out of a foreign object having no therapeutic or diagnostic effect being left in a patient's body, for a period of one year from the date the object is discovered or reasonably should have been discovered.
This means that if a doctor accidentally leaves something in your body cavity on January 1st, 2008 and isn’t discovered for ten years, you still have the right to initiate legal action. But bear in mind you only have a year until after this discovery.
The second exception involves fraud:
In cases in which fraud, concealment or intentional misrepresentation prevented discovery of the injury within the two-year period, for one year from the date the injury is discovered or, by the exercise of due diligence, reasonably should have been discovered.
What this means is that if your doctor, surgeon or other medical professional makes a mistake, realizes it, covers it up and you find out about it because this mistake led to further complications, this is another way for you to get past the two year rule. But again, you only have one year from the date of the discovery of the cover up.
So as bad as this sounds, if a doctor makes a mistake with you in Virginia, you are actually better off if it is bad enough to be immediately noticeable.
Washington, D.C. also has a statute of limitations towards medical malpractice injuries, and what that means is that you have a three year window from the date of injury. When the injury was discovered does not matter, so just like in Virginia, you are actually better off if the injury is noticeable.
This is why it is important to avoid any sort of delay in the event of a medical malpractice case. If you have a lingering illness or injury or condition that you did not have prior to a surgery or other medical procedure, you should have a thorough examination by a doctor other than the one who treated you in the first place. If it turns out that there is an issue, you should consult with an experienced medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible. Delaying any longer could result in you not getting the treatment and settlement that you deserve.
To learn more about medical malpractice issues, please refer to our medical malpractice page. To learn more about our medical malpractice lawyer, John Sellinger, please read John Sellinger's bio, or watch his medical malpractice video on UTUBE.
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