Legal Question in Medical Malpractice in Virginia

In the case of an adult, probably, two years from the date of the alleged injury attirbuted to the malpractice or from the date that it should've been discovered exercising reasonable diligence. Negligence is ordinarily an important component of the medical malpractice claim and must be proven by a preponderance of the evidence.

medical malpractice is negligence by a health care provider--just like negligence of a driver who runs a red light. negligence is defined as the breach of a duty--a driver has a duty to stop at a red light and if he fails to do so he has breached that duty and is negligent. A doctor has a duty to treat his patient as any other reasonably prudent doctor would under similar circumstances and he he fails to do so he is negligent. The statute of limitations is the same for both, 2 yrs in Va. The only difference is that in a medical malpractice case the 2 yrs runs from the date of the negligent act OR the date of last treatment for the condition out of which the negligent act arose (eg. 1/1/07 doc. commits negligence during knee surgery; statute would run 1/1/09, but if patient didnt know and treated with doc for the knee until 1/1/08 the statute would not run until 1/1/09). Every case is different and if you believe you are the victim of medical malpractice you should seek specific legal advice immediately--most lawyers will not charge for an initial consultation.