| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
A Every state has a law that specifically addresses the time frame of filing a lawsuit against a healthcare professional. Because this question specifically asks about an adult initiating a lawsuit, the answer is found in the "statute of limitations." In other words, a law or "statute" that the state legislature has passed gives the same time frame or "limitation" to everyone in that state. Consequently, no one individual is discriminated against based on the time for filing.
The statute of limitations is of utmost importance because lawsuits will be dismissed if they are filed beyond the statute. The statute is there for a specific reason. If there is no statute, the plaintiff and defendant and any other parties to the lawsuit would find it difficult to discover facts and have witnesses to support their side of the story. If there was no time limit, a plaintiff could file a lawsuit years after an injury occurred and defendants would have to rely on their memory, any written evidence, or witnesses to rebut any allegations. The longer it is, the tougher for both sides to gather evidence. Therefore, each state has a statute of limitations.
Let’s step back for a moment. When filing a lawsuit, the plaintiff must bring the complaint to the local courthouse and have it stamped with the date when that complaint is filed. This does not necessarily mean that the defendant will know about it at that time because a defendant does not receive official notice of a lawsuit that has named him or her as a defendant until he or she is "served" with a copy of that lawsuit from the plaintiff. It can be days or weeks before a defendant actually receives a copy of the lawsuit and that date may be beyond the statute of limitations. What matters is that the complaint has been filed at the local courthouse within the period specified in the state’s statute of limitations.
If you have been sued as a critical care nurse in your professional capacity by a former adult patient, the lawsuit would be for your negligence as a nursing professional. Negligence is a tort and each state has a specific statute of limitations for tortfeasers. For instance, California has a 1-year statute of limitation from the date of discovery and a 3-year statute of limitation from the date of injury. A plaintiff must file a lawsuit within 1 year from the time he or she discovers that he or she has been injured. However, if the plaintiff does not discover this information within 1 year, he or she has up to 3 years from the date of actual injury to file. So, in California, the outside limit for filing a lawsuit is 3 years.
Comparatively, Oregon has a statute of limitations of 2 years from the date of discovery. Technically, a plaintiff has 2 years from the time he or she discovers an injury to file a lawsuit. If the discovery of injury was many years later and memories were dim, documentary evidence was not available, and witnesses were gone, it would be next to impossible to defend any allegations, but also difficult for a plaintiff to prove a case.
If you are the defendant in a lawsuit, your attorney will first check that the lawsuit has been filed within the specific statute for the state of filing. If you are a plaintiff, you must file the lawsuit within that same statute. For the tort of negligence, the statute generally falls between 1 to 4 years.
The statute of limitations is the first hurdle that any lawsuit must overcome. Once it has been established that the lawsuit was filed within the appropriate period, the lawsuit continues through the anatomy of a lawsuit.
| Information appearing in Legal Counsel is for general purposes and is not intended to replace legal advice. For specific situations, consult your facility’s legal representation or a personal attorney.
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
