How much time do I have to bring a lawsuit for medical malpractice in New York?

 

A: WARNING: THE ANSWER GIVEN HERE IS ONLY VALID AS OF AUGUST 6, 2009. TO OBTAIN THE MOST UP-TO-DATE ANSWER, YOU MUST SPEAK TO AN EXPERIENCED ATTORNEY. YOU CANNOT RELY ON THIS LIMITED ANSWER TO GUIDE YOU IN YOUR PARTICULAR LEGAL PROBLEM.

The short and simple answer is for a private doctor or private hospital you have only 2 1/2 years from the date of the malpractice within which to file a lawsuit. The problem, is that in law, there is never a short simple answer. There are always many exceptions.

IF YOUR CLAIM INVOLVES INJURIES SUFFERED AT A MUNICIPAL HOSPITAL WITHIN THE CITY OF NEW YORK, THEN YOU HAVE ONLY 90 DAYS TO FILE A CLAIM AND PUT THE MUNICIPAL HOSPITAL ON NOTICE OF WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU. (Municipal hospitals include Bellevue hospital, Coney Island hospital, Elmhurst hospital, Harlem hospital, Jacobi hospital, Kings County hospital, Lincoln hospital, Metropolitan hospital, North Central Bronx hospital, Queens General hospital and Woodhull hospital.)

Technically,  you must file your claim with the corporation that owns the municipal hospitals. This is known as the "New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation." You then have only one year and 90 days from the date of the malpractice within which to file a lawsuit against the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation. If you fail to timely file your notice of claim, you will have many obstacles before you are permitted to file a lawsuit within the appropriate time.

If your claim or injury arose out of treatment you received at a State hospital, you also have a very limited time in which to notify the State of your potential claim. Failure to provide notice in writing to the appropriate agency and department may prevent you from ever bringing a lawsuit for your injuries.

Another exception to the time limit mentioned above is if a claim or lawsuit involves a child. Typically, claims involving children have a longer period of time to file a lawsuit, but you should never rely on that possibility when deciding when to seek legal counsel.

Finally, one last exception that I will touch on here involves something known as "continuous treatment."

This is a legal doctrine which may allow you, in some limited circumstances, to file a lawsuit later than the typical 2 1/2 years permitted. Why? Because this legal doctrine says that if you have been continuously treated by the same doctor or hospital for the same condition or complaint that you originally went to them for, then the time you have to bring a lawsuit typically will only start from the end of that treatment. There are many problems and additional obstacles with filing a claim based upon this doctrine. There may be gaps of time in which you have not been treated; there may be instances where the doctor has called you to return to the office, or you may have returned to the office for routine visits that may interrupt what you believe to be continuous treatment.

Importantly, any time there is the potential that your lawsuit may not be timely, your attorney must look at each individual medical record and assess the facts surrounding each particular visit to determine whether there is a viable cause of action based upon current case law for continuous treatment.

I MUST STRESS THIS WARNING AGAIN, SINCE IT IS CRITICAL IF YOU ARE READING THIS. YOU CANNOT RELY SOLELY ON THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE ANSWER HERE.

THE REASON IS THAT YOUR PARTICULAR SET OF FACTS MAY BE UNIQUE AND NOT APPLICABLE TO ANY ONE PARTICULAR EXCEPTION THAT I HAVE LISTED HERE. ONLY BY SPEAKING WITH AN EXPERIENCED NEW YORK MEDICAL MALPRACTICE ATTORNEY CAN YOU GET A TRUE UNDERSTANDING OF THE EXACT TIME LIMIT APPLICABLE IN YOUR PARTICULAR CASE. ONLY THEN CAN AN ATTORNEY GIVE YOU A TRULY EDUCATED AND DEFINITIVE ANSWER ABOUT WHETHER YOUR CASE MAY BE TIMELY. 


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