Man Wins Supreme Court Appeal in Statute of Limitations Trial
An Alabama man’s lawsuit has been reinstated by the state’s Supreme Court in a malpractice case against a local hospital and one of its emergency room physicians. The court said the original Madison County Circuit Court erroneously dismissed the case previously. Francis Price Crosslin went to the hospital’s emergency room in February 2002 complaining of nausea, dizziness and weakness. A battery of tests, including a CT scan, revealed that Crosslin had a tumor on his pituitary gland, but the hospital and doctor failed to inform Crosslin of it that day. Crosslin returned to the hospital in September 2005 complaining of loss of vision in his left eye and decreased vision in his right eye. It was only then that he learned of the tumor and it was removed two days later. Crosslin claims that because of the hospital and doctor’s negligence he has been left with severely limited vision in both eyes. Attorneys for the hospital and doctor had argued that any injury done to Crosslin occurred on Feb. 23, 2002, and he failed to file a malpractice complaint within two years as required under the Alabama Medical Liability Act. The original trial judge agreed and dismissed the case. Thankfully, Crosslin’s attorney argued in their appeal that the alleged malpractice may have occurred some time after Feb. 23, 2002, and within the statute of limitations. The Supreme Court agreed and had this to say about the case, “Crosslin's complaint does not foreclose his ability to prove that the injury caused by Huntsville Hospital's and Dr. Calvert's alleged malpractice did not occur until some time after the actual act of malpractice (Feb. 23, 2002) and therefore within the applicable time period.” The case will return to the Madison County Circuit Court.
