How much later can I sue for medical malpractice?

In medical malpractice tort law, there is a time limit for filing a medical negligence lawsuit, called the statute of limitations. These time limits vary by state, but usually it is between two and four years. In your case, depending on the state you live in, you probably have little time left, so you should talk to a medical malpractice lawyer immediately. Even if there is time left, you must realize that it will take some time for an attorney to evaluate and investigate your case in order to prove that it has merit, before he or she can file the lawsuit.

In most cases of medical negligence and patient injury, the time limit starts on the date of the incident, or the date the injury was discovered, or should have been discovered, so there is some gray area in the law. The statute of limitations also has specific stipulations for certain kinds of injury, such as case where a foreign object is left in a patient during surgery, because it may take a long time before the injury is discovered. Your attorney will be able to explain how your case will be treated according to this time limit.