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Medical malpractice case dismissed - filed too late

Virginia has a two-year statute of limitations in medical malpractice cases.  That is, a patient has to file her case within two years of when she was injured or there's no case. The only exception is when a health care provider continues to treat the patient after the malpractice occurs.  That is, continuous treatment of the patient by the health care provider creates an extension of the statute of limitations.

A judge in Richmond recently ruled against the patient and dismissed her case.  The judge said that the statute of limitations had expired even though the patient had been seen by the defendant radiologist several times after the alleged malpractice occurred.  The judge looked at several other cases and concluded that each time the radiologist performed and interpreted the various radiological studies on the patient's brain was a separate and distinct event, not a continuous treatment that would extend the statute of limitations.