Actions against health care and mental health providers (medical malpractice)
If someone thinks a doctor, nurse, hospital, dentist, or other health care provider made a mistake that hurt them, they generally have two years from when the mistake happened to file a lawsuit. There are three exceptions: (1) if a foreign object was left inside a person's body, the two years starts when the person finds out about it; (2) if the provider failed to tell a patient their test results, the two years starts when the patient finds out about that failure; (3) if the person suing is under 18, they have until their 20th birthday to file. Once the lawsuit is filed after the time limit has passed, the other person must be officially notified within 180 days or the case gets thrown out.
516.105. s against health care and mental health providers (medical ). — 1. All actions against physicians, hospitals, dentists, or licensed practical nurses, optometrists, podiatrists, pharmacists, chiropractors, professional physical therapists, mental health professionals licensed under chapter 337, and any other providing health care s and all employees of any of the foregoing acting in the course and scope of their , for for malpractice, , error or mistake related to health care shall be brought within two years from the date of of the act of complained of, except that:
(1) In cases in which the act of neglect complained of is introducing and permitting any to remain within the body of a living person, the action shall be brought within two years from the date of the of such alleged negligence, or from the date on which the patient in the exercise of should have discovered such alleged negligence, whichever date first occurs; and
(2) In cases in which the act of neglect complained of is the failure to inform the patient of the results of medical tests, the action for failure to inform shall be brought within two years from the date of the discovery of such alleged negligent failure to inform, or from the date on which the patient in the exercise of ordinary care should have discovered such alleged negligent failure to inform, whichever date first occurs; except that, no such action shall be brought for any negligent failure to inform about the results of medical tests performed more than two years before August 28, 1999. For purposes of this , the act of neglect based on the negligent failure to inform the patient of the results of medical tests shall not include the act of informing the patient of the results of negligently performed medical tests or the act of informing the patient of erroneous test results; and
(3) In cases in which the person bringing the action is a less than eighteen years of age, such minor shall have until his or her twentieth birthday to bring such action.
2. Any service on a by a after the set forth in 1 of this section has expired or after the expiration of any extension of the time provided to commence an action law shall be made within one hundred eighty days of the of the . If such service is not made on a defendant within one hundred eighty days of the filing of the petition, the court shall dismiss the action against the defendant. The dismissal shall be unless the plaintiff has previously taken or suffered a , in which case the dismissal shall be .
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Source & history notes
(L. 1976 S.B. 470 § 2, A.L. 1999 H.B. 274, A.L. 2005 H.B. 393, A.L. 2016 H.B. 1765, A.L. 2018 S.B. 871) Applicability of statute changes to cases filed after August 28, 2005, 538.305 (1985) The reduction of the limitation period for medical malpractice actions should be applicable only to claims where the alleged act of malpractice occurred after the effective date of the section. Goodman v. St. Louis Children's Hosp., 687 S.W.2d 889 (Mo. banc). (1985) The ten-year maximum was designed to limit the "foreign object" exception to the two year statute, and not to limit the time within which an infant who suffers damage from malpractice within his first two years may file suit. McLeran v. St. Luke's Hosp. of Kansas City, 687 S.W.2d 892 (Mo. banc). (1996) Actions brought pursuant to this section are not tolled under 516.170. Batek v. Curators of Univ. of Mo., 920 S.W.2d 895 (Mo. banc). (2015) Ten-year statute of repose could not be equitably tolled and does not violate constitutional provisions of equal protection, open courts, due process, or special laws. Ambers-Phillips v. SSM DePaul Health Center, 459 S.W.3d 901 (Mo. banc). (2023) The specific deadline in Section 516.105 for service of process in medical malpractice claims does not conflict with the requirement that service of process be prompt under Rule 54 of the Missouri Supreme Court Rules of Civil Procedure. Brick v. Koeppen, 672 S.W.3d 62 (Mo.App.S.D.)
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Legal information, not legal advice. Always confirm with the official source at revisor.mo.gov.