It's not often that a visit to a doctor or medical facility causes harm rather than healing. When it happens to you or a loved one, it can seem like your trust was misplaced. Nothing can take away the hurt and distrust a medical injury causes but you can take action to help ensure that others are not also harmed. When you think about taking legal action against a doctor or medical facility, time is a very important factor. Read on for some information that might help you understand more about medical injuries and the special rules that apply to file medical malpractice claims in a timely manner.

The Time Limit Rule That Can Ruin Your Case

All forms of personal injury claims have to abide by a time limit rule known as the statute of limitations. This rule may be more famous for criminal matters but it can create big problems with civil cases too. The rule varies in each state so understanding how your state handles things is a must. You might have one rule for one type of personal injury and another rule for medical malpractice. For example, you might have two years to file a car accident injury case in your state while you only have a year to file a medical malpractice case in the same state. The state where the medical harm occurred is the one to pay attention to. If you wait too long to file your case, it will be tossed out of court and you will never have the chance to gain the satisfaction of seeing your case in court – not to mention losing the compensation you are probably owed.

Know What You Are Up Against

In most cases, medical malpractice lobbyists for the insurance industry are aggressive and have been successful in their efforts to put in place lots of roadblocks to prevent medical harm victims from getting paid. That means that the time limit for filing these cases is often a lot shorter than for other types of personal injury cases. In addition, you may need to have your case go before a special hearing board to determine merit before your case can move forward. These are all good reasons to contact a malpractice lawyer as soon as possible. Only certain types of lawyers practice medical malpractice law since it can be extremely technical and complex to litigate. Evidence needs to be gathered quickly so talk to a medical malpractice law firm like Bennett Bigelow & Leedom PS today about your case.