QUESTION
Do i have a medical malpractice case and are my statue of limitations up?
Asked on Sep 25th, 2013 on Medical Malpractice - Pennsylvania
More details to this question:
I sprained my ankle 3 1/2 yrs ago, DR A refused to do an MRI, he eventually did and realized that I developed AVN-he wanted to amputate I found another dr (DR B) that complete surgery 2 yrs ago and now just had a second surgery because the first failed. I was told that if my 1st dr (DR A) did the MRI he would have seen the problem and a simple surgery would have been done to correct the problem, now I have to live the rest of my life in pain and possible more surgeries. I am only 42 yrs old.
1 ANSWER
Medical Malpractice Attorney serving Pittsburgh, PA
at
Ryan R. Smith Law Offices
Update Your Profile
If your last doctor, or another doctor can offer an opinion that Dr. A should have diagnosed the AVN then you have a potential claim against Dr. A. The statute of limitations in Pennsylvania for medical negligence cases is two years from the date of the alleged negligence. Under a strict application of the statute of limitations, you would have two years from the date on which Dr. A missed the AVN. However, Pennsylvania applies the "discovery rule" in medical negligence actions. This means that the statute of limitations does not begin to run until you knew, or should have known of Dr. A's negligence. In other words, the statute of limitations will run from the date when a subsequent doctor told you that Dr. A missed the AVN.
Answered on Oct 01st, 2013 at 10:01 AM