Jun 11, 2023 | malpractice, Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress, Work Injuries
One of the most puzzling things to endure, is to receive a diagnosis, but no resulting relief. After some time trying to treat an injury or ailment, you might make a second trip to the doctor and realize that you received a misdiagnosis. As a result, you’ve spent months fighting the wrong issue, and now your current one has progressed. If you find yourself in this scenario, and now facing further medical intervention, you might be wondering how you can get those months of financial burden, and wrongful treatment, back. While no one can return your time and hurting, you can potentially file a medical malpractice suit against the doctor who worsened your condition.
Misdiagnosis as Medical Malpractice: Making a Case
These types of cases occur when a doctor fails to diagnose an injury, or fails to identify the correct one. Without a diagnosis, you cannot find relief or treatment to try and heal your injury. Therefore, in the time you are spending treating the wrong injury, or receiving no treatment at all, your condition can worsen.
Proving Your Case
In order to hold your doctor accountable, you must be able to prove your case in three ways.
A doctor-patient relationship existed. First, you must prove that a doctor-patient relationship existed. By that, you must have records of seeing this doctor on several occasions. In order to show that he had enough time to see you and treat your symptoms.
The negligence of the doctor. Another aspect you may need to prove is that your doctor was negligent. In short, this means he or she did not provide treatment in a suitable manner. This manner can mean that they do not provide the right treatment or within a timely manner.
Their negligence caused you injury. In the end, you must also be able to prove that their negligence caused you injury. By that, in not treating you, they made your symptoms worse or brought about a new problem.
Receiving Your Compensation
In the event that you suffered from this type of medical malpractice, you may be able to sue your doctor. Since you did not receive the treatment you needed to improve your health, your quality of life may suffer. Furthermore, you may endure lasting pain and other symptoms that require treatment or medication. Therefore, it is important for you to understand your rights and benefits.
Oct 7, 2013 | Assault and Battery, Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress, Personal Injury, Uncategorized
How long do you have to file a personal injury suit in South Carolina?
When you are injured in South Carolina, you only have a limited time to file your personal injury suit. Bottom line. Depending on what your injury is, or what type of suit you are filing, will affect the time that you have the bring suit.
The set amount of time that you have to file you suit is referred to as the “statute of limitations.” There are even certain circumstances where if the person becomes aware, or should have become aware of the injury. This is found under any federal or state rule called the “Discovery Rule.”
Most importantly, South Carolina statute of limitations laws may differ from those of other states. Here is the comprehensive list of how long a person has after having a personal injury occur in their life to file suit in South Carolina:
1: If the claim is one of negligence, such as a car accident, or a slip and fall case, you have three years from the date of injury to file suit.
2. If the plaintiff wishes to file a civil suit against the defendant for assault or battery, they have three years to file suit from the date of incident.
3. If there is a claim the plaintiff is making for defamation, they have two years after the defendant “publicized” the false statement to bring suit. This personal injury is more one towards reputation.
4. All strict liability claims, meaning that there is no fault on part of the defendant, but he is still forced to pay, must be brought within three years.
5. If there is an injury due to a product malfunction, under a South Carolina product’s liability claim, the plaintiff has three years to bring suit since the date of injury.
6. Lastly, when the victim/plaintiff is killed in a wrongful accident, the family or estate of the victim has three years to bring suit against the defendant.
If you have become victim to any of the aforementioned injuries listed above, contact the personal injury attorneys at Reeves, Aiken, and Hightower, LLP toll-free at 877-374-5999 for more information.
Mar 25, 2013 | Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress, Uncategorized
Hypothetical: On May 21, 2011, Julius Orange and his mother were driving home in separate cars on Interstate-77 in York County, South Carolina. Julius was following his vehicle several car lengths behind his mother’s car. As Julius’s mother approached the intersection, a dump truck, owned and operated by Acme Landscaping Company and driven by Dog Bounty, ran a stop sign and slammed into Julius’s mother’s car. The car rolled several times before coming to a stop on the shoulder of the road. J’s mother was thrown from the vehicle onto the road and was killed. Julius witnessed the collision and was the first person to come to his mother’s assistance. Dog Bounty did not know that Julius was the decedent’s son or that she was following her mother that day.
Dog Bounty was convicted of misdemeanor death by motor vehicle and a stop sign violation, and after the accident, Julius began to suffer severe psychological problems and consulted a clinical psychologist. He was diagnosed with a disabling mental disorder as a result of the accident. Julius also lost his job as a result of the accident.
Julius has timely filed a lawsuit against Dog Bounty in York County, South Carolina, setting forth the foregoing facts and alleging negligent infliction of emotional distress (NIED) and mental anguish seeking compensatory damages, which he alleged were reasonably foreseeable.
Dog has filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. How should the court rule on Dog’s motion to dismiss Julius Orange’s complaint?
The court should deny the motion to dismiss the claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress. The issue is whether the driver of a vehicle can be held liable for negligent infliction of emotional distress when he was not aware of the presence of the third party.
To recover for NIED, the plaintiff must establish three elements: (1) the defendant negligently engaged in conduct; (2) it was foreseeable that the conduct would cause the plaintiff emotional distress; and (3) the conduct did cause severe emotional distress. There are several factors to consider when determining whether the emotional distress to the plaintiff is foreseeable, including the plaintiff’s proximity to the negligent act, the relationship between the plaintiff and the injured party, and whether the plaintiff personally observed the negligent act. While knowledge of the third party’s presence is essential in intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED) claim, this is not an element of NIED claim.
Here, Dog was negligent by driving through a stop sign without stopping and hitting and killing Julius’s mother, as evidenced by his conviction. Considering each of the foreseeability factors separately, it is likely that Julius’s distress could be found foreseeable by a jury. First, Julius was only a few car lengths away from the accident when it occurred, and he had a full view of the accident, so he was in close proximity to the accident. Second, he is the son of the injured party, so there is a close family relationship. Finally, he personally witnessed the negligent act and was the first person to come to his mother’s assistance. Julius satisfies all three factors, making it highly likely that it was foreseeable that the conduct would cause him emotional distress. The conduct did in fact cause him emotional distress in that he developed severe psychological problems being diagnosed with a disabling physical condition as a result. Also, the condition caused him to lose his job. Therefore, because all three of these elements for establishing NIED are supported by the facts, the court should not grant the motion to dismiss Julie’s complaint.
The following hypothetical properly distinguish how a South Carolina court would likely look at a negligent infliction of emotional distress claim. The tricky inner workings of such a legal problem illustrate the methodology the law offices of Reeves, Aiken & Hightower, LLP uses to argue such a problem in front of a South Carolina court. If you or a loved one has been injured or even killed in an accident, it is important that you know every potential claim you could have before for you. In order to do so, you must ensure that you are properly represented. For a consultation, contact The Law Offices of Robert J. Reeves P.C at (704) 351- 7979. We are located in Baxter Village in beautiful Fort Mill, South Carolina.
