Wrongful-death statute of limitations does not apply to a med-mal death.
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When a patient is injured by medical malpractice, and dies much later, the applicable statute of limitations is that for malpractice, not wrongful death, and the statute begins running at the time of the initial injury, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals held last week. Facts In 1992, then-12-year-old Sarah Hegarty became a patient of pediatrician Mary Jo Zimmer. In 1995, she developed abdominal pain, and consulted with Zimmer, who referred her to a pediatric gastroenterologist at Childrens Hospital, who diagnosed her as having irritable bowel syndrome. On March 20, 1996, Sarah developed severe abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, and was rushed to Childrens Hospitals emergency room at 4:30 p.m. She was initially treated by Ernest Stremski, the emergency room physician, and later by Angela Beauchaine, a first-year medical resident. At 8 p.m., she was admitted to the hospital, where her condition rapidly deteriorated under treatment by Beauchaine, who, as a first-year resident, was not yet licensed to practice medicine. Beauchaine was enrolled in a graduate medical program through The Medical College of Wisconsin (Medical College) and The Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals (Affiliated). No licensed physician saw Sarah from the time of her admission until Zimmer arrived at 7:30 a.m. on the morning of March 21, 1996. By 11:45 a.m., Sarahs condition became critical, and she was taken to surgery at approximately 1:45 p.m., by which time Sarah was diagnosed with small bowel volvulus with complete bowel infarction (her small bowel had been twisted and cut off from the blood supply). Sarah died on March 16, 1998, after more… |