Understanding the Medical Malpractice Statute of Limitations Georgia Uses

Exceptions to the Statute of Limitations Deadline

As we said earlier, medical malpractice claims tend to be more complex than other personal injury cases, and in many cases may not even be identified until long after the incident occurred. To allow for this, Georgia law specifies two major exceptions to the medical malpractice statute of limitations:

• Statute of repose: Some lawsuits may be brought as long as five years after the malpractice incident happened. This applies when the damage of the malpractice isn’t evident soon enough for the two-year deadline. An example of this might be when the side effects of a certain medication take a few years to manifest, but then become obvious and are clearly linked to the medication.
• “Foreign object” cases: This is an exception to even the statute of repose. It applies when a “foreign object” is left in a patient’s body due to medical negligence. Foreign objects are things like sponges or surgical instruments, but not prosthetic devices or chemical compounds. These lawsuits must be brought within one year of the foreign object’s discovery and are allowed even if it’s been more than five years since the object got there.
• Failure to diagnose: Injuries and harm caused by a doctor’s failure to diagnose a condition or disease may receive a filing extension from the court, though this is very much determined on a case-by-case basis.

These exceptions are not common, however, and missing applicable deadlines jeopardizes any chance for fair compensation. You should not rely on them. That’s why it’s so important to understand the law and seek the help of an attorney.