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Medical Malpractice Help in Brandon
If you or someone you love was hurt by a doctor, nurse or hospital in Brandon, you may be dealing with new medical bills, lost work and worry about what comes next.
The sections below set out the South Dakota law that applies to malpractice claims and explain how to reach, through needanattorney.net, an attorney in our network who handles them.
When a Provider's Care Becomes a Malpractice Claim
A claim counts as medical malpractice in South Dakota when it is an action for malpractice, error, mistake or failure to cure against a physician, hospital, nurse, dentist, chiropractor or another practitioner of the healing arts, whatever the legal theory (SDCL § 15-2-14.1).
South Dakota’s damages statute for malpractice, SDCL § 21-3-11, names the providers it covers, including physicians, dentists, hospitals, nurses, nurse practitioners and physician assistants, and extends to a practitioner’s corporate, partnership or limited liability employer.
An unexpected outcome does not prove a mistake. What matters is whether care in Brandon departed from accepted practice and whether that departure caused the harm.
Situations That Can Lead to a Malpractice Claim
These are among the kinds of care that lead to claims. Each depends on showing that the care departed from accepted medical practice and that the departure caused the harm.
Missed or late diagnosis
When a provider fails to order the right test, misreads a result or dismisses symptoms, the harm may come from lost time. A claim asks whether an earlier diagnosis was reasonably available and what difference it would have made to treatment.
Surgical errors
Surgery claims may involve an operation on the wrong site or patient, an instrument or object left in the body, damage to nearby structures, or a failure in anesthesia or aftercare. Each is looked at for whether it departed from accepted practice and caused the harm.
Errors with medications
A wrong drug, a wrong dose, a missed allergy or a harmful interaction can injure a patient. These claims ask who in the chain, the prescriber, pharmacist or nurse, made the error and whether it caused the harm.
Harm to a mother or baby at birth
When a mother or baby is harmed before, during or soon after delivery, a claim asks whether the care departed from accepted practice and whether that caused the injury. These cases usually depend heavily on the medical records.
How Long You Have to File in South Dakota
The filing deadline is two years, counted from the date the alleged malpractice, error, mistake or failure to cure occurred (SDCL § 15-2-14.1).
The statute measures the two years from when the alleged malpractice occurred; its text does not say two years from discovery. An attorney can tell you whether any exception applies to the facts of a particular case.
When the Patient Is a Minor
If the person entitled to bring an action was a minor or mentally ill when the cause of action accrued, the time of the disability is not a part of the time limited for starting the action (SDCL § 15-2-22).
The extension is limited: the period cannot be extended more than five years by any disability except infancy, and in no case longer than one year after the disability ceases (SDCL § 15-2-22).
When a Patient Dies
If a patient dies because of care that would have supported a claim during the patient’s life, SDCL § 21-5-1 provides a wrongful death action.
The wrongful death period is three years from the death itself (SDCL § 21-5-3), which is longer than the two years for the patient’s own malpractice claim.
SDCL § 21-5-5 has the personal representative bring the action, for the exclusive benefit of the surviving spouse and children, or the parents and next of kin when there is neither.
What South Dakota Law Says About Damage Limits
Under SDCL § 21-3-11, general damages in an action alleging malpractice against the listed providers may not exceed $500,000, and the limit applies to arbitration as well as court.
Special damages are not limited by SDCL § 21-3-11, which caps only general damages.
That does not set the value of any claim. What can be recovered still depends on the injury, the proof and the share of fault found against each defendant.
Shared Fault in South Dakota
Under SDCL § 20-9-2, contributory negligence is not a bar if it was slight in comparison with the defendant’s negligence, and the award is reduced in proportion.
The fact finder decides whether the patient’s negligence was slight in comparison without a percentage being disclosed by special interrogatory (SDCL § 20-9-2).
Records that show every provider involved in the care help an attorney see how fault may be shared.
Claims Against Government Health Care Providers
If the provider is a public entity or its employee, SDCL § 3-21-2 requires written notice of the time, place and cause of the injury within one hundred eighty days after the injury before an action can be maintained.
Who gets the notice depends on the entity (SDCL § 3-21-3): the county auditor for a county, the mayor or city finance officer for a municipality, the superintendent for a school district, and others as listed.
The notice does not stop the clock: SDCL § 3-21-2 says nothing in the chapter tolls or extends a limitation period. For a minor or an incapacitated person, SDCL § 3-21-4 lets a court allow a reasonable time after the disability, on application within two years of the event.
Where a Minnehaha County Malpractice Case Is Filed
An action for the recovery of damages to persons may, at the plaintiff’s option, be brought and tried in the county where the damages were inflicted or the cause of action arose (SDCL § 15-5-8). For care received in Brandon, that county may well be Minnehaha County.
Local Courts and Hospitals in Brandon
Brandon lies in Minnehaha County, according to Census Bureau place and county names. South Dakota Codified Law 16-5-1.2 places Minnehaha County in the Second Circuit. Sanford USD Medical Center in Sioux Falls, in Minnehaha County as well, is on the South Dakota Department of Health trauma hospital list as a designated tertiary trauma hospital. The South Dakota Department of Health trauma hospital list names Sanford USD Medical Center Pediatrics in Sioux Falls, also in Minnehaha County, as a designated regional trauma hospital. Ask the hospital’s records office for your complete chart and itemized bill, and note which doctors and nurses were involved.
Start Your Brandon Medical Malpractice Claim
Before you contact anyone, it helps to put the events in order: the dates of treatment, the providers you saw, what you were told and what happened afterward.
Submit the form on this page and we will work to connect you with an attorney in our network who handles medical malpractice claims in South Dakota. Because filing deadlines are measured in years, not decades, it helps to ask early.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does South Dakota limit what I can recover for medical malpractice?
General damages are limited to $500,000 in total; there is no limitation on special damages (SDCL § 21-3-11).
Where is a malpractice lawsuit from Brandon filed?
SDCL § 15-5-8 lets the plaintiff choose the county where the cause of action arose, which for a Brandon claim may be Minnehaha County.
What if the patient was a minor when the injury happened?
Yes. SDCL § 15-2-22 leaves out the period of minority or mental illness, with limits on how far the period can be extended.
Can I recover if I share some blame in South Dakota?
Yes, if your own negligence was slight in comparison with the defendant’s; otherwise recovery is barred (SDCL § 20-9-2).
How long do I have to file a medical malpractice claim in South Dakota?
Two years after the alleged malpractice, error, mistake or failure to cure occurred (SDCL § 15-2-14.1).
Who can bring a wrongful death claim in South Dakota?
The personal representative brings the action (SDCL § 21-5-5), within three years after the death (SDCL § 21-5-3).
How fast must I act against a public provider in South Dakota?
One hundred eighty days for written notice (SDCL § 3-21-2), given to the officer named in SDCL § 3-21-3.
More Medical Malpractice Pages
Medical care often happens outside your own town; these pages cover other South Dakota communities.
