If you are planning on pursuing a medical malpractice claim against a negligent healthcare provider, certain time limitations apply under the Georgia statute of limitations. Statutes of limitations provide a set window of time for filing a lawsuit in a particular type of case. The purpose of these statutes is to ensure that witnesses are available (should the matter ultimately proceed all the way to trial), memories stay fresh, and to prevent evidence from growing stale, outdated, or being erased entirely.
Section 9-3-71 of the Georgia Code, a state statute, provides the window of opportunity for filing a medical malpractice lawsuit arising out of an incident that occurs within the state of Georgia. Specifically, an attorney must file a cause of action arising out of medical malpractice by a healthcare provider within two years.
This two-year time period begins to run on the date when a patient’s “injury or death arising from a wrongful or negligent act or omission” takes place. In the context of medical malpractice, a “negligent act or omission” can refer to a doctor’s failure to diagnose, misdiagnosis, surgical error, or a serious medical mistake, among others.
The Georgia statute of limitations also provides an overall five-year filing deadline for cases where a healthcare provider’s error was discovered until much later. This five-year time window establishes a statute of repose. Therefore, you must file your lawsuit within five years of the date of your discovery.
Absent some very limited exceptions, statutes of limitations in the state of Georgia are hard-and-fast rules. If the court does not receive a lawsuit against a responsible healthcare provider promptly, the patient will forever waive their right to file a medical malpractice claim or lawsuit against the provider for that particular instance of malpractice. Similarly, the patient may lose the right to recover monetary compensation for their injuries that resulted from the medical malpractice or negligence.
However, the state of Georgia provides some extremely limited exceptions for these hard-and-fast statute of limitations deadlines in the context of medical malpractice. For example, if a healthcare provider negligently leaves a surgical instrument, such as a sponge, inside a patient’s body after performing surgery, then the patient may file a lawsuit against the negligent healthcare provider one year from the discovery date of the foreign object. This one-year period applies true even if the two-year or five-year statute of limitations deadline has already expired in the case.
In addition, exceptions to the statute of limitations apply if the injured patient is a minor that was under five years of age when the medical negligence or malpractice allegedly occurred or when a patient is deemed “legally incompetent” at the time of the alleged medical malpractice.
Failing to comply with a Georgia statute of limitations in a medical malpractice case can result in you losing the right to pursue monetary compensation for your injuries. The experienced Atlanta medical malpractice attorneys at Brauns Law Accident Injury Lawyers, PC can ensure that your medical malpractice case is filed with the court promptly, to increase your chances of obtaining the compensation that you deserve for your injuries.
