Exception to statute of limitations upheld in Georgia

Doctors say allowing plaintiffs more time to file suit when a misdiagnosis occurs disregards medical science and the Legislature's intent.

By Amy Lynn Sorrel, AMNews staff. July 21, 2008.

The Georgia Supreme Court turned down physicians' request to overrule a long-standing exception to the statute of limitations for medical liability cases involving misdiagnoses.

Under Georgia law, plaintiffs generally have two years from the date of the alleged misdiagnosis to sue for an injury. But justices in June unanimously upheld a 20-year-old legal precedent that carved an exception to that rule.

Established under a 1988 appeals court ruling, the exception was intended to address cases where a patient develops a new, more serious condition allegedly stemming from a negligent diagnosis but symptoms do not show up until much later. In such cases, the clock starts ticking from the time signs of the new injury first appeared.

However, doctors say there has to be some finality to when plaintiffs can file claims. They fear the decision leaves them exposed to greater liability and could deter doctors from practicing at a time when the state is facing physician shortages.

"Our concern is this [ruling] is going to allow plaintiff attorneys to circumvent the intent of the Georgia Assembly and create liability at selective stages of the disease process," said Donald J. Palmisano Jr., general counsel to the Medical Assn. of Georgia. The organization filed a friend-of-the-court brief asking the Supreme Court to overturn the 1988 exception.

Justices determined the exception applied to a lawsuit Wilbert Barnes brought against Atlanta internist Chukwudi B. Amu, MD, in 2004 for allegedly misdiagnosing his colon cancer four years earlier.