Injured? Beware of Ohio Medical Malpractice Statute of Limitations March 25, 2012.

In Ohio – as in most other states – you have a limited window of time in which you can file a medical malpractice lawsuit against a doctor, hospital, or other medical facility or caregiver for medical errors that resulted in injury or illness.

Ohio law holds that you must file your complaint within 1 year of the cause of the complaint (or the act of malpractice itself). You can get more time by giving the defendant written notice of your intention to file; after you do so, you will have 180 days to actually file the complaint.

Additionally, Ohio has a discovery rule that extends this period under certain circumstances. It is sometimes the case that an injured patient has no way of knowing that he or she has been the victim of medical malpractice until some months or even years have passed – a patient may fall ill after surgery and believe the cause to be wholly separate from the surgery itself, for instance.

This discovery rule extends the statute of limitations window by 3 years, meaning you have a total of 4 years to file if you didn’t learn until after the first year that malpractice had occurred.

Reach out to the attorneys at Mellino Law Firm to learn more about what you and your family can do to recover from the trauma you’ve suffered.