How Long Do Patients Have to File a Medical Malpractice Claim?

If you have been injured by medical negligence, you may be entitled to financial compensation, but you must act in time. The medical malpractice attorneys at Federman & Sherwood can lead the legal fight on your behalf.

There are many reasons why you should act quickly to get legal help after you have been injured by medical malpractice. One of the primary driving factors when you contact a medical malpractice lawyer is the statute of limitations. You do not have an unlimited amount of time to take legal action, and you always need to be conscious of the clock.

When you hire a medical malpractice lawyer at Federman & Sherwood, we will track all deadlines, so you can have peace of mind. Call us today at (800) 237-1277 to review your case with a medical malpractice lawyer during a free initial consultation.

Oklahoma Applies a Strict Statute of Limitations to Medical Malpractice Cases

Oklahoma has a statute of limitations that applies to all personal injury cases. In general, the law states that you have two years from the date of your injury to file a lawsuit against the responsible party. If you miss this deadline, you will lose the right to sue entirely. The statute of limitations is a hard-and-fast time limit. There are very few exceptions to this rule, and they are strictly construed.

In the medical malpractice context, there is a question about when the time clock begins to run. You do not always know immediately that you have been injured, or that your condition was the result of medical negligence.

The Discovery Rule and How it May Apply to Your Medical Malpractice Case

Oklahoma law applies the “discovery rule” to medical malpractice cases. What this rule means in practice is that the statute of limitations begins to run on the date when you knew that you were injured and that it was the result of medical malpractice. Some examples of how the discovery rule applies include:

• A patient experiences pain from a surgical procedure for years before a CT scan reveals that surgical equipment was left inside their body.
• The patient undergoes a surgical procedure and learns years later that they need a revision or new surgery because the initial procedure was botched.
• A doctor misdiagnosed what later turned out to be cancer, and the patient did not learn that they had a malignant tumor until several years after the misdiagnosis.
• A specialist determined that a child’s medical condition was the result of an injury that occurred during the birth process, years after the fact.

Note that the discovery rule does not give a plaintiff an unlimited right to file a lawsuit after the initial statute of limitations has expired. The rule also imposes obligations on the plaintiff. Namely, the discovery rule is phrased in terms of when the patient knew or should have known of their injury. As such, an injured patient is required to exercise their own reasonable due diligence to determine that they were hurt and that what happened to them was the result of medical malpractice. A patient cannot take a passive approach and do nothing, and expect that the discovery rule will allow them to revive a time period that should have expired.

There May Be Some Special Statute of Limitations Rules in Your Medical Malpractice Case

There are some situations in which the standard medical malpractice rules may not apply to your case.

• If your loved one died due to Medical malpractice, wrongful death rules apply. Here, you have two years from the date of death to file a lawsuit.
• If a government health provider was the cause of your injuries, there are compressed timelines to file a claim. You have one year from the date of your injury to notify the government of your claim in writing. If your claim is denied, you have 180 days from the time of denial to file a lawsuit.
• If a minor child was the victim of medical malpractice, and their parents do not file a legal action on their behalf, the standard statute of limitations begins to run at the time that they turn 18.

Even if the law gives you two years to file a lawsuit, you should not wait that long to contact a medical malpractice lawyer. First, there is evidence available to you that may be lost if you wait too long to try to build your case. Second, it can take your medical malpractice law firm a considerable amount of time to work with expert witnesses and draft the legal complaint in your case.

Contact a Medical Malpractice Law Firm

When you have been injured by the carelessness of a medical professional, time is of the essence. The first step that you must take is to schedule a free initial consultation with a medical malpractice attorney at Federman & Sherwood. You can contact us online or call us today at (800) 237-1277 to speak with a lawyer.