CASE AGAINST DOCTOR WAS FILED TOO LATE
Claiming she suffered injuries when her medication (for her hypothyroidism) was reduced from 200 micrograms to 25 micrograms due to an “unclear prescription,” RK filed a personal injury case in Suffolk County Supreme Court alleging negligence. (Apparently, she last saw the doctor on May 14, 2012, but didn't initiate the case until May 13, 2015.)
When the doctor moved for the dismissal, asserting that the litigation was brought too late – outside of the 2 ½ year statute of limitations for such claims – the motion court concurred and dismissed the dispute as against the physician.
On appeal, the Appellate Division agreed that this abbreviated time bar applied and that the dismissal was properly granted. While RK attempted to argue that “ordinary negligence” had been alleged, and that a longer (three-year) time-frame applied, the AD2 rebuffed that analysis, since the nature of the “duty” that was owed to the plaintiff in this case was more in connection with her medical treatment. (If medical treatment had not been involved, and some other duty had been breached, than an “ordinary negligence” theory might then have applied,)
Was there no doctoring that?
# # #
DECISION