in FL If you are misdiagnosed in 2013 and discover this now can you still file
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in FL If you are misdiagnosed in 2013 and discover this now can you still file
My 76 yr old mother was diagnosed in 2/13 with neuroendocrine lung
cancer on the outside of the lobe. Was told by surgeon/pathologist that
any further treatment wasn’t necessary. She has continued to stay closely
monitored by her primary care physician and pulmonologist.
Two months ago she was diagnosed with metastactic neuroendocrine
cancer in her liver…she is stage 4 now with it being in her lungs the
original source liver and sacrum.
The oncologist team of Uf who is treating her now with chemo which she
is struggling with reviewed her slides and said that it was neuroendocrine
cancer then. You can understand the shock and sadness we feel. Is this
something that could be a legal matter …I am confused with reading the
FL limitations .
Asked on November 7, 2017 under Malpractice Law, Florida
Answers:
S.L,. Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
Sorry to hear about your mother.
Medical malpractice is negligence. Negligence is the failure to exercise due care (that degree of care that a reasonable medical practitioner in the community would have exercised under the same or similar circumstances to prevent foreseeable harm).
Unfortunately, it is too late for your mother to sue the doctor, who made the misdiagnosis, because Florida only has a four year statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit in a medical malpractice case.
Altlhough many states have a statute of repose (giving additional time to file a medical malpractice lawsuit from the discovery of the malpractice), Florida has a very limited statute of repose which would not be applicable here because it only applies to misrepresentation, concealment, and fraud.
Since the four year statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit in this case tolled (expired) in Feb. 2017, your mother's lawsuit for negligence against the first doctor is barred.
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