QUESTION
hi..in 1988 i had hodgkins disease..had 42 treatments of radiation and had my spleen removed.
Asked on Jul 27th, 2012 on Medical Malpractice - Massachusetts
More details to this question:
immediatley after i would get chest pains daily and have dizzy spells..the dizzy spells would happen about five times a day..as time wore on the dizzyness increased everytime i would get into a standing position.....i have been to dozens of doctors and specialists over the years and they tell me it was from the radiation...in the past five years it has gotten to the point that i have black outs and lightheadiness and dizzyness about twenty times a day...three weeks ago i went for a tilt table test..it came back abnormal..a heart doctor..nuerologist and my primary doctor said the radiation damaged my autonomic nervous system and there is nothing they can do to repair it...the radiation also caused scar tissue around my heart causing me to have chest pains everyday..i have been on dissability since 2004 because of this...but the situation has gotten very bad....do you have any advice for me....thank you for reading this.....robert..
1 ANSWER
I am sorry to hear about this. However, you are probably not permitted to take legal action regarding this because the statute of limitations has probably expired at this point. If you are claiming that the radiation did the harm, and you had all treatments in 1988, then it is highly likely that the statute of limitations has expired. It is likely that the statue of limitations is three years and clearly that has expired. You also state that you have been experiencing this since immediately after the radiation treatments. As a result, you would not be able to argue that you just became aware of the harm. Also, it is likely that these problems and symptoms were "risks" of the radiation that were disclosed to you at some point. As a result of all of the above, but mainly because of the time that has elapsed and the expiration of any likely statute of limitations, I do not think that you have a legal remedy. However, if you are still interested in attempting to pursue this, I recommend you try and contact local attorneys in your area. A local attorney will be able to assist you more with the specific statute of limitations in your state and any other possible sources of recovery in your state. Best of luck.
NOTE: This response is general in nature and should not be considered legal advice. No attorney-client relationship exists or has been formed by this response.
Answered on Jul 30th, 2012 at 2:24 PM