QUESTION
do i have a malpractice/wrongful death case?
Asked on Mar 13th, 2014 on Medical Malpractice - Ohio
More details to this question:
my mother is 78 has had Alzheimer's for 7 months. she was diagnosed with a mrsa uti on 12/31/13. the dr finally prescribed macrobid 100mg 2x daily for 10 days, on 1/8/14. 1/14/14 by this time she was running a temp of 100, swollen glands in her neck with puss draining from her urethra. by 1/17/14 she was no longer able to swallow pills. her doc was kept informed by her nurse. we requested a change to liquid so she could finish her full rx. on 1/21/14 we got a response from her dr, the request was refused. orders were to wait a week change her cath and take a new sample to lab for ua/ sensitivity. nurse did not wait a week and did this on 1/23/14. results were faxed to dr on 1/25/14 still had mrsa uti. nurse also faxed results to dr followed up with ph calls. dr left on vacation w/o addressing. On 1/30/14 dr covering his patients prescribed liquid nitrofurantoin. mom was unable to take it as she had become unresponsive, in horrable pain, temp of over 103. Mom passed away 2/5/14. I feel her treatment did not come close to meeting any standard of care and it was because she was elderly.
1 ANSWER
To be perfectly honest with you, Ask-A-Lawyer is not the proper forum for addressing the merits of your potential malpractice case. Only a qualified lawyer who has reviewed all the facts and medical documentation can adequately advise you whether or not you have a valid claim for medical malpractice. You need to contact a qualified lawyer in your area and discuss this with him/her.
You do need to know that you have a limited amount of time to pursue this claim. This is known as the statute of limitations. Under Ohio law, there are two statutes of limitation applicable to your case. One is for your mother's conscious pain and suffering from the time of the alleged malpractice through the date of her death. The statute of limitations for this is ONE YEAR. The second is the family members claim for damages because of her wrongful death. The statute of limitation for this is TWO YEARS from the date of death. If a lawsuit is not filed within these time frames against all responsible parties, your claim may be time barred and result in no compensation being paid.
There are possibly some exceptions to these time limitations, so you need to contact a qualified attorney so they can properly advise you on the exact date that a lawsuit needs to be filed. And you should do this sooner rather than later.
These cases can take several months to properly evaluate. If you think you have a potential claim, you need to be calling an attorney right now. A month has already passed, so time is of the essence.
Best of luck.
Answered on Mar 14th, 2014 at 9:41 AM