Ohio Medical Malpractice, Statute of Limitations, and the Discovery Rule May 18, 2012.

Ohio medical malpractice laws currently allow only 1 year for an injured patient to file suit against the responsible party. Sometimes, however, it’s impossible to discover a "cause of action" or realize that any injury has occurred until a certain time span has elapsed.

For example, it may not be evident that a stainless steel rod was incorrectly inserted into a patient’s leg until years later, when the steel has corroded because the wrong gradation was used, causing possible blood poisoning.

When this happens, the "discovery rule" permits a medical malpractice claim to be filed within a certain timeframe after the injury or cause of action was discovered (or should have been reasonably discovered).

Although the discovery rule doesn’t apply to all civil injuries, it does apply to medical malpractice in Ohio. Despite this, the period of time allowed for bringing a post-discovery claim is still fairly brief, and you should contact a medical malpractice attorney immediately so that he or she can begin filing a claim on your behalf.