A blind woman's medical malpractice action against her doctor cannot be dismissed as time-barred because she has raised factual issues about whether the applicable statute of limitations was tolled under the continuous treatment doctrine, a Manhattan appeals court has ruled.

The doctrine, considered one of the most effective means of overcoming the statute of limitations in medical malpractice cases, provides that, in actions based on a failure to diagnose a condition, the limitations period is tolled as long as the symptoms being treated indicate the condition's existence.

In a lawsuit filed March 5, 2010, plaintiff Michelle Lewis claimed that Frederick Rutkovsky, her primary care doctor, failed to diagnose a meningioma—a benign brain tumor—despite her visiting him intermittently between April 1998 and Sept. 5, 2007, and at times complaining of migraine headaches, blurred vision and related symptoms.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Go To Lexis →

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Go To Bloomberg Law →

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

NOT FOR REPRINT