Preventable medical errors and negligence can cause harm to patients. Medical malpractice can involve a variety of different mistakes. Sometimes, doctors fail to diagnose a patient despite having enough information to reach an appropriate conclusion. Other times, they may make major errors when recommending medication or performing surgical procedures.
Professional mistakes that cause harm to patients and that are avoidable with better adherence to medical standards may constitute malpractice. The patient or their surviving family members may have grounds to pursue a medical malpractice lawsuit.
Taking legal action can help compensate those harmed by unprofessional medical standards and may create consequences for the health care professional who failed their patient. However, patients often need to act quickly, as the state statute of limitations may eventually prevent them from seeking justice.
What is the statute of limitations?
Ohio, like other states, has rules limiting when civil litigation is possible. Statutes of limitations exist to ensure that legal action occurs promptly after an issue arises. In most scenarios, those seeking compensation for medical malpractice are subject to a one-year statute of limitations.
They only have one year from the date the incident occurred or when they became aware of their injury to take legal action. There is also a four-year statute of repose that applies. If patients discover medical mistakes more than a year after they occur, they could have up to four years to take legal action against the doctor or facility responsible.
There are a few exceptions to the limitations on medical malpractice lawsuits. Minors who experience medical malpractice before they turn 18 can evaluate their options once they become an adult or after discovering the injury as an adult. The law also specifically excludes lawsuits related to items left behind in a patient during surgery from the four-year statute of repose for a medical malpractice lawsuit.
Patients who have experienced medical malpractice do not have the luxury of waiting for years while evaluating their options. They need to move promptly or risk losing the ability to hold medical professionals accountable. Learning more about the laws that govern medical malpractice lawsuits can help people hold physicians or the medical businesses that employ them accountable for mistakes and substandard care.