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CAN
THEY DO THAT ?
STILL
SORE BUT STILL NOT
SUING
Janet
T. Mills, Esq.
WRIGHT
& MILLS, P.A..
MY HUSBAND HAD
SURGERY ALMOST FOUR YEARS AGO AND HE HAS
BEEN SICK EVER SINCE. I DON'T THINK THE
SURGEON DID A VERY GOOD JOB AND WE WANT TO
SUE THE SURGEON FOR PAIN AND SUFFERING. WE
CAN STILL SUE, CAN'T
WE?
No,
you can't!
The
statute of limitations for medical
malpractice is only three years from the
date of the alleged malpractice. In your
case, this means three years from the date
of the surgery.
If
your husband had reason to believe that
the surgeon did something wrong, he first
should have gotten a second opinion from
another specialist who could have looked
over your husband's medical records and
advised him about his medical condition.
If
you had medical evidence that the surgeon
was negligent and that the surgeon caused
your husband harm, your husband would have
been required to file a "Notice of Claim"
against the surgeon within three years of
the act of malpractice.
The
surgeon's lawyer would have had the right
to take your expert's deposition and your
attorney could have taken the surgeon's
deposition and the deposition of any other
expert the surgeon might
use.
Then
the case would have been presented to a
medical malpractice panel which would
determine if the surgeon did something
wrong, whether the surgeon's wrongdoing
was a deviation from the medical standard
of care and whether your husband's
continuing medical problems were
proximately caused by the surgeon's
negligence.
Only
then would your husband be allowed to go
to court to seek compensation for his
medical costs, lost wages, pain and
suffering, and the like.
The
statute of limitations is shorter for
medical malpractice cases than for most
other torts because the legislature wanted
to control health care and malpractice
insurance costs.
So
remember, when it comes to bringing a
claim, if you snooze, you
lose!
It's
the law!
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