Most physicians buy medical malpractice insurance, as protection from a patient that wins a large award, after making a medical malpractice claim. Fortunately, the legal system provides doctors with an added form of protection. It is called the statute of limitations.
What is the statute of limitations?
That is a span of time established by the legal system. It gives the starting date and the ending date for a timeline. That timeline represents the length of time in which the victim/plaintiff has to file a personal injury claim.
What is the starting date?
That is the day when the victim got injured, or when that same victim realized that he or she had been injured. That stipulation certainly pertains to a medical malpractice case. Sometimes, a surgeon leaves some item in the patient’s wound, and the patient has no knowledge of that mistake. The patient learns about the mistake when the body reacts to that foreign object.
What is the ending date?
The ending date depends on the age of the victim and the nature of the victim’s injury. For an adult that has been injured by a physician, the ending date would be 2 years after the starting date. Injury Lawyer in Cambridge is of the view that if an infant suffered a birth-related injury, then the end date for the statute of limitations would be the affected child’s 13th birthday. There are two different mistakes that could qualify as a birth-related incident of medical malpractice.
The one mistake would involve delivery of improper care to the mother and/or the child. The second mistake would result from a doctor’s failure to share with parents the observations made at the time of the infant’s delivery.
Every infant is supposed to be given what is known as an Apgar score. That reflects the infant’s activity level, appearance, pulse rate, grimace (or other response to a stimulus) and respiration. The Apgar score should be announced in the delivery room.
What is the statute of limitations for an older child, if he or she gets hurt by a member of the medical community?
For such a child, the statute of limitations does not start until that same minor has reached the age of 18. After that point in time, the statute of limitations extends for 2 years.
If a child were to die while under a doctor’s care, the parents would have 2 years in which to file a medical malpractice claim. If the parents delayed taking that action, they would lose their right to pursue a medical malpractice claim. The same fate would alter the plans of any adult that did not act in a timely manner, and failed to sue the physician that was responsible for a discovered injury.
