Young v. Williams

The 2-year statute of limitation for medical malpractice claims does not provide for the commencement of the limitation period upon the termination of a health care provider's treatment of a patient

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On October 28, 1998, appellee Margaret Williams filed a medical malpractice action against appellants Dr. Devell R. Young and his professional corporation, alleging Dr. Young had failed to diagnose dislocated bones in her left foot. The trial court granted summary judgment to the defendants/appellants on the ground that the two-year statute of limitation applicable to medical malpractice actions barred the action. OCGA § 9-3-71a. On appeal, the Court of Appeals adopted the “continuous treatment doctrine” in medical malpractice actions based on misdiagnosis and reversed the trial court’s judgment because there was a question of fact whether Dr. Young had treated Ms. Williams in the two years preceding the filing of her lawsuit. Williams v. Young, 247 Ga. App. 337 543 SE2d 737 2000. We granted appellants’ petition for a writ of certiorari to examine the Court of Appeals’ introduction of the continuous treatment doctrine into malpractice actions in Georgia.1

Appellee, who suffers from diabetes, first sought treatment from Dr. Young for swelling and pain in her left ankle and foot in September 1995. In June 1996, Dr. Young prescribed a lymph edema foot pump. In response to appellee’s repeated complaints about her foot, Dr. Young told her on September 30, 1996, that her condition was a permanent one with which she had to live. Five weeks later, in early November 1996, appellee saw another physician about her foot. The second physician took an x-ray of appellee’s foot and diagnosed a dislocation of her talonavicular joint with subluxation of the calcaneal cuboid joint of the ankle. Thereafter, appellee telephonically informed Dr. Young of the second physician’s diagnosis. The second physician performed surgery in December 1996 to repair the three dislocated bones, and Dr. Young saw appellee with regard to her diabetes during her hospital stay following the surgery. Appellee filed her complaint alleging medical malpractice/failure to diagnose on the part of Dr. Young one year and 51 weeks after the second physician’s diagnosis.

Young v. Williams

The 2-year statute of limitation for medical malpractice claims does not provide for the commencement of the limitation period upon the termination of a health care provider's treatment of a patient

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