Even though Doctors go through extensive training and education, we are all human and make mistakes. According to the U.S. Department of Health Patient Safety Network a serious error, or “never event,” can include wrong-site surgery, medication mistakes and post-surgery missteps.
In many states there are laws which limit how long you have to file a medical malpractice and how much you can recover in damages. This blog post will explain the Montana time restrictions and monetary caps for a medical malpractice case.
Montana law requires medical malpractice claims to file within two years of injury discovery or within two years of a when reasonable person should have discovered the injury. This period cannot be longer than five years from the date of the injury.
The lime limit for children may be longer depending on the age of the child at the time of the injury. If the child’s injury occurred under the age of four, the two to five year period starts on the child’s eighth. Malpractice time extensions can also occur at any time where the child does not live with a parent or guardian.
For recovery limitations, victims can claim two main kinds of injury in a medical malpractice case, economic and non-economic damages. Economic damage may include medical bills, lost wages and other kinds of quantifiable amounts. Economic damages are not capped but the plaintiff must convince a jury or judge that they deserve the amount.
Non-economic damages can include pain and suffering, loss of ability, humiliation and other subjective non-monetary losses. Montana law caps non-economic damages at $250,000 for victims of medical malpractice.
If you believe a medical professional’s mistake hurt you, a legal professional can help. In addition to the above mentioned laws, there may be other limitations which a lawyer can explain to you.
