Fortunately, Georgia has laws that were put into place to protect:
- misdiagnosed patients;
- undiagnosed patients;
- those patients who weren't given acceptable medical care; and
- patients that were denied care for an unreasonable amount of time.
Generally, you'll have two years from the time of the act that gave rise to your injuries to file a medical malpractice claim. However, Georgia also takes delayed discovery into account, which means if your injuries aren't noticed right away, the Georgia statute of limitations will be extended.
In cases where a foreign object was left in your body, you'll have one year from date of discovery to file a claim, or within a reasonable expectation of finding the problem.
Regardless of the specifics, though, no one can pursue medical malpractice claims in Georgia more than five years after the date the incident that gave rise to the injuries occurred.
These statutes apply to minors, as well, except that the statute doesn't run before a child's seventh birthday.
Medical malpractice is a complicated area of the law, and victims should not try to battle insurance firms on their own. It's important to hire an attorney skilled in medical malpractice claims in order to have the best chances of receiving compensation for your damages.
Contacting an Georgia Medical Malpractice Lawyer
If you are the victim of someone else's negligence or carelessness, such as in a medical malpractice case in Georgia, you have certain rights guaranteed by law. To help you understand these rights and seek the compensation you may be eligible for to help get your life back in order, contact the Atlanta Law Offices of Sheryl L. Burke for a no-cost consultation on your injury case: 1-404-842-7838.