Expert Witness Blog
National Medical Consultants represents a panel of over 1900 distinguished specialists in all areas of medicine including surgical nursing. In Medical malpractice liability reform-no easy task expert witnesses at National Medical Consultants continue from January 1st blog posts:
Restricting conditions for medical malpractice claims.
A fourth strategy used by many states for medical malpractice reform is specifying at what point in time it is appropriate for an injured party to bring a claim against a health care provider. States restrict these claims in a variety of ways, three of which are discussed below.First, every state sets in statute a period of time, usually from the date of the incident or the reasonable date of discovery of the injury, during which a claim for damages must be brought against a health care provider. These laws are known as statutes of limitations. Traditionally, medical malpractice cases had a five-year statute of limitations from the date the patient discovered the injury. Over time, some states have shortened the statute of limitations for medical malpractice cases to decrease the number of unexpected claims for damages filed against health care professionals because the time lapse often renders the claim difficult to prove or disprove. Approximately 31 states have a statute of limitations for medical malpractice cases of two years from the date of the injury. A number of states have special provisions in the statute of limitations that extend this time period for minors up to a certain age and/or extend the period of time for the discovery of foreign objects negligently left in the body.