Has your life or the life of a loved one been changed forever because of a medical error? You may be wondering how much time you have to file a lawsuit.
In Iowa, injured patients or families of medical malpractice victims have a limited amount of time to investigate potential malpractice and take appropriate legal action. If you wait too long, you could lose out on getting fair compensation for your harm and losses.
The Statute of Limitations for Iowa Medical Malpractice Cases
Generally speaking, Iowa law states that an injured patient (or a deceased patient’s family) has two years to file a lawsuit after a medical error causes either injury or death. This is known as the statute of limitations.
There are limited exceptions to this 2-year rule. One of the exceptions is if the injured patient was a child. Children (and the guardians that bring the medical malpractice lawsuit) may have longer than two years to settle their claims. To find out if you have an exception to the statute of limitations, you should speak with an Iowa medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible.
Why You Need to Speak to a Medical Malpractice Lawyer as Soon as Possible
Even though you may have two years to settle your claim or file a lawsuit, medical malpractice cases are complex matters that require a lot of work. Before any attorney takes your case, they need to review it carefully.
This review includes ordering your medical records. These medical records are then sent to an expert for review.
Medical malpractice claims are different than normal personal injury claims in Iowa because only another doctor who works in the same area of medicine can say if a medical error was medical malpractice. For example, if an emergency room doctor made an error during your treatment, you will usually need another emergency room doctor to review your records and testify on your behalf that what happened was malpractice.
The expert will be looking to see whether the standard of care was met in your case. The standard of care is the idea that a skilled health care professional will provide you with a certain level of treatment in a certain circumstance. The expert analyzing your case will look to see if the treatment you or your loved one received met the standard of care.
If the answer is no, and you were seriously and permanently injured by their actions, you may be able to bring a medical malpractice suit against them.
You need to know that if you are injured or a loved one is killed because of a medical error, you cannot sit back and wait for the medical professional who hurt you to come forward and do the right thing. You need to take action as soon as possible.
Most medical malpractice attorneys in Iowa offer a free, no-obligation case evaluation to Iowa medical malpractice victims and their families. To schedule yours with one of our skilled Iowa medical malpractice lawyers, call 1-800-433-0283 today.
