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Under North Carolina law you have three years in which to file an medical malpractice suit, from the date that the injury occurred.

Medical malpractice cases generally take longer to settle than typical personal injury or accident claims, as out-of-court settlements usually occur later in the litigation cycle..

Generally if a malpractice case is not settled before suit, it can be estimated that between one and two years will elapse between filing suit and the case actually reaching trial. Our experienced malpractice attorneys will be working for a pre-trial settlement to be agreed upon, thus avoiding the potentially lengthy trial process and the risks of not achieving an adequate settlement.

As noted in the article on this page, establishing negligence and culpability in a medical malpractice suit can often be difficult. Furthermore, North Carolina law operates under the doctrine of what is termed “Pure Contributory Negligence”.

Pure Contributory Negligence

If it can be proven that the plaintiff was partially responsible for causing their own injury, then they are barred from receiving any damages in the case. Clearly this places a considerable burden on the injured party to ensure nothing done on their part lead to their injury or prolonged period of recovery.  Refusing a certain type of treatment post-surgery, without sufficiently sound medical reasons, may be an important factor. As might be failing to implement a post-surgery rehabilitation as instructed by the medical practitioner.

So it’s important to talk with a medical malpractice attorney as early as possible in the process, whilst all of the facts of the case are still fresh in the mind of the injured.