Most people are aware that generally, Utah law allows victims of medical negligence two years in which to sue the doctor, nurse, or hospital who committed malpractice against them. However, that is only a general rule. The general rule is riddled with exceptions.
One of the biggest exceptions to this rule is the hospital at the University of Utah, which is one of the largest facilities in the state. The University of Utah Healthcare system is moving aggressively to build clinics in every corner of the state. They are competing head-to-head with IHC, HCA, Steward, and other hospital chains. But, so far, the University has successfully convinced the Utah Legislature into believing it is entitled to a special one-year statute of limitations for filing a notice of claim. There are other hospitals that also enjoy this protection, but it may be difficult to identify these facilities.
For the sake of time, we will not get into the “ins and outs” of all the relevant statutes on this blog entry. Simply put, if you believe you were negligently treated by a doctor or nurse affiliated with the University of Utah Healthcare system, you should see a lawyer as soon as possible. You should never wait until you are close to the one-year anniversary of a bad outcome with a University healthcare provider before seeing a lawyer. Why? Because lawyers need months to collect your medical records, have your medical records analyzed by experts, and determine whether or not your case has merit.
In many years of exclusively representing medical negligence victims, we have seen countless good people who unfortunately wait until the last minute to call us for help. We have had to turn down good cases, simply because we didn’t have enough time to do a proper investigation before the statute had expired on the case. Don’t wait. If you feel you have been harmed by a provider’s negligence, call G. Eric Nielson and Associates now.