What to Do If You Think a Medical Mistake Hurt You
Your health comes first. A spouse or grown child can request records and keep the timeline while you concentrate on getting better.
- Get the care you need now. You are free to get a second opinion or switch providers if you've lost confidence in the first.
- Request the records. Ask every hospital, clinic, urgent care and doctor's office for a complete copy, including test results, imaging, nursing notes and bills.
- Make a calendar of care. Mark the date of every appointment, scan, surgery and new medication, and note who you spoke with.
- Hang on to the small stuff. That means the hospital bracelet, prescription labels, after-visit summaries, patient portal messages and explanation-of-benefits letters.
- Keep it off social media. Tell your doctors and your lawyer instead.
Did a nurse or surgeon say sorry, or admit something went wrong? Get that conversation on paper while the words are fresh. A letter from the hospital about an unexpected result, or a bill that was suddenly written off, belongs in the file too.
Care Around Greenville
People in the Upstate get care at large hospital systems, community hospitals in Greer, Simpsonville, Travelers Rest and Easley, freestanding ERs, urgent care centers and private practices. Who runs a facility can matter. Some South Carolina hospitals and clinics are run by public bodies, and a lawyer can find out who runs the one where you were treated.
Steps Before a Lawsuit
Before filing a medical malpractice lawsuit in South Carolina, a patient generally must serve a Notice of Intent to File Suit and file an expert affidavit identifying at least one alleged negligent act or omission, unless an exception applies. The process also includes pre-suit mediation and special rules that affect filing deadlines.3 Those steps take time, so talk to a lawyer long before the limit runs out.
Want someone to look at your situation?
Talk with our team about what happened and ask the questions on your mind.
How Long You Have to File
South Carolina generally requires medical malpractice claims to be filed within three years of the alleged malpractice or when the injury was discovered or reasonably should have been discovered. Many claims are also subject to a six-year outer limit, with exceptions for certain foreign-object cases and claims involving children.1 The limit is for a lawsuit, and an insurance claim does not stop it.4
Claims against a governmental health care provider may fall under the Tort Claims Act and its own rules.2 Those lawsuits generally must be filed within two years, or three years if the statutory claim procedure is followed.5 Care at a VA or other federal facility generally requires a written claim to the agency within two years.6
More is on our statewide medical malpractice page. If the harm happened in long-term care, see nursing home neglect in Greenville.
Talk With Us
A medical mistake can shake your trust in people you depended on. Tell us everything, from the first symptom to the last appointment. Some treatment goes badly even when every doctor does the right thing, and some doesn't. We tell you honestly which way your facts seem to point.
Our office is on King Street in downtown Charleston. The first conversation can happen by phone. We take cases across South Carolina, including Greenville and the Upstate.
Call and tell us about the treatment and what changed after it.
South Carolina Law on This
- South Carolina generally requires medical malpractice claims to be filed within three years of the alleged malpractice or when the injury was discovered or reasonably should have been discovered. Many claims are also subject to a six-year outer limit, but special rules and exceptions apply, including certain foreign-object cases and claims involving children. The applicable deadline can also depend on whether the provider is a private, state, local, or federal healthcare entity.1
- Claims against a South Carolina state or local government agency have their own filing deadline, which can be shorter, and there could be caps on damages under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act, depending on the facts of the case.2
- Before filing a medical malpractice lawsuit in South Carolina, a patient generally must serve a Notice of Intent to File Suit and file an expert affidavit identifying at least one alleged negligent act or omission, unless a statutory exception applies. The process also includes pre-suit mediation and special rules that affect filing deadlines.3
- South Carolina's statute of limitations generally sets the deadline for filing a lawsuit in court. Simply opening a claim with an insurance company or negotiating with an insurance adjuster does not stop the statute of limitations from running.4
- Lawsuits under the South Carolina Tort Claims Act generally must be filed within two years after the loss was or should have been discovered. A three-year deadline may apply if a qualifying verified claim was first filed under the Act.5
- Injury claims against the federal government, such as care at a VA hospital, military clinic or some federally funded health centers, or a crash with an on-duty federal employee, generally must first be filed in writing with the agency within two years, before any lawsuit. If the agency denies the claim, a lawsuit generally must be filed within six months after the agency mails its written denial.6
- A medical malpractice claim generally requires proof of an applicable professional standard of care, a breach of that standard, causation, and compensable injury. A poor medical outcome does not by itself mean malpractice occurred.7
- In South Carolina, a wrongful death lawsuit is brought by the personal representative of the deceased person's estate on behalf of family members designated by law. The beneficiaries are the surviving spouse and children, or, if there are none, the deceased person's parents. If none of those relatives survive, other legal heirs may benefit from the claim.8
- Under South Carolina law, wrongful death lawsuits generally must be filed within three years of the person's death. However, different rules may apply when a death involves medical malpractice, a government agency, or other circumstances governed by special laws. A related survival claim may also have a different filing deadline.9
- Active-duty service members generally cannot sue the federal government for medical malpractice involving care received incident to military service. However, they may be eligible to seek compensation through an administrative claim with the Department of Defense for malpractice by a DoD health care provider at a covered military medical facility.10
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I tell malpractice from a bad result?
A poor medical outcome does not by itself mean malpractice occurred. A claim generally requires proof of a professional standard of care, a breach of it, causation and a compensable injury.7 Doctors in the same field often weigh in on those questions.
Do I need my chart before I call?
No. Requesting it is a good idea, but you don't need it in hand. Jot down each provider, facility and date, plus what you remember being told.
My father died after a hospital stay. Can our family bring a claim?
In South Carolina, a wrongful death lawsuit is brought by the personal representative of the deceased person's estate on behalf of family members designated by law.8 Wrongful death suits generally must be filed within three years of the death, but different rules may apply when a death involves medical malpractice.9 The pre-suit steps for malpractice can apply too.3
The care was at a VA clinic. Is that different?
Sources
- S.C. Code § 15-3-545
- S.C. Code §§ 15-78-110 and 15-78-120
- S.C. Code §§ 15-79-125 and 15-36-100
- S.C. Code §§ 15-3-20 and 15-3-530
- S.C. Code §§ 15-78-80 and 15-78-110
- 28 U.S.C. §§ 2401(b) and 2675(a); 42 U.S.C. § 233(g)
- S.C. Code § 15-79-110(6); David v. McLeod Regional Medical Center, 367 S.C. 242 (2006)
- S.C. Code §§ 15-51-10 and 15-51-20
- S.C. Code §§ 15-3-530(6) and 15-3-545
- Feres v. United States, 340 U.S. 135 (1950); 10 U.S.C. § 2733a
This page is general information about South Carolina law, not legal advice for your situation. Every case depends on its own facts.
