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Canton Medical Malpractice Legal Help
When medical care in Canton goes wrong, the harm is physical, financial and personal at once, and it is hard to know whether what happened is a legal claim.
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
Under SDCL § 15-2-14.1, the claims covered are those against a physician, surgeon, dentist, hospital, nurse, chiropractor or other practitioner of the healing arts for malpractice, error, mistake or failure to cure, in contract or in tort.
The limit on damages in SDCL § 21-3-11 applies to actions for personal injury or death alleging malpractice against physicians, chiropractors, optometrists, podiatrists, dentists, hospitals and nurses, among others listed there, or against the practitioner’s corporate employer.
Medical care does not always succeed, and an unhappy outcome is not by itself malpractice; the claim has to connect a failure in care to the injury.
Situations That Can Lead to a Malpractice Claim
The examples that follow are not a complete list, but they show how a claim connects what the provider did or failed to do to the harm.
Failure to diagnose
Diagnostic claims turn on timing: what was known when, what a careful provider would have done with the same symptoms, and what an earlier diagnosis would have changed.
Errors in the operating room
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.
Wrong drug or wrong dose
Giving the wrong medication, the wrong amount or a drug that conflicts with something the patient already takes can cause serious harm. A claim looks at where in the process the care fell short.
Injuries during pregnancy or delivery
A delivery that goes wrong can leave lasting harm. A claim looks at what the providers knew, what they did and whether that caused the injury.
Filing Deadlines Under South Dakota Law
A medical malpractice action can be commenced only within two years after the alleged malpractice, error, mistake or failure to cure occurred (SDCL § 15-2-14.1).
The clock in SDCL § 15-2-14.1 runs from when the alleged malpractice occurred. It does not use discovery wording, which makes the dates of treatment important from the start.
Minors and Mental Illness Under South Dakota Law
Under SDCL § 15-2-22, the period of a disability, minority or mental illness at the time of accrual, is left out of the time limited for commencing the action.
SDCL § 15-2-22 caps the extra time. A disability other than infancy can add no more than five years, and no extension runs longer than one year after the disability ends.
A Death Caused by Medical Care
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.
SDCL § 21-5-3 gives three years from the death to commence a wrongful death action, measured from the death rather than from the care.
The action is for the exclusive benefit of the husband or wife and children, or if there are none, the parents and next of kin, and it is brought in the name of the personal representative (SDCL § 21-5-5).
Compensation Limits for a Malpractice Claim
South Dakota limits general damages in a malpractice case to $500,000 in total, in court or in binding arbitration (SDCL § 21-3-11).
Special damages are not limited by SDCL § 21-3-11, which caps only general damages.
What a claim is worth depends on the injury, the proof and the allocation of fault, not on a statutory ceiling.
The Slight Comparison Rule
South Dakota lets a patient recover if the patient’s negligence was slight in comparison with the defendant’s, with damages reduced by the patient’s share (SDCL § 20-9-2).
SDCL § 20-9-2 says the slight comparison question is determined without disclosing any percentage of the patient’s fault by special interrogatory.
Because fault can be assigned to providers who are not defendants, identifying every provider involved in the care early matters.
Notice to a Public Entity in South Dakota
South Dakota sets a much shorter notice period for claims against public entities and their employees: written notice within one hundred eighty days after the injury (SDCL § 3-21-2).
The notice goes to the officer named in SDCL § 3-21-3: the attorney general and the commissioner for the state, the county auditor, the mayor or city finance officer, the superintendent of schools, or the chief executive officer or secretary of the board.
Two points to remember: the notice does not toll the limitation period (SDCL § 3-21-2), and for a minor or incapacitated patient a court can allow late notice on an application within two years of the event (SDCL § 3-21-4).
Where a Lincoln County Malpractice Case Is Filed
SDCL § 15-5-8 gives the plaintiff the option of the county where the damages were inflicted or the cause of action arose, and care in Canton points to Lincoln County as one choice. The county where a defendant resides is the general rule (SDCL § 15-5-6).
Local Courts and Hospitals in Canton
The Census Bureau places Canton in Lincoln County. South Dakota Codified Law 16-5-1.2 places Lincoln County in the Second Circuit. The South Dakota Department of Health list of designated trauma hospitals shows Sanford Canton-Inwood Medical Center in Canton as a designated trauma receiving hospital. Ask the hospital’s records office for your complete chart and itemized bill, and note which doctors and nurses were involved.
Next Steps for a Canton Medical Malpractice Claim
A short written account of what happened, with the names of the providers and the dates, gives an attorney a useful starting point, even if you are missing some records.
The form on this page sends your details to an attorney in our network who handles medical malpractice claims in South Dakota, so you can talk through what happened and what your options are.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if the patient was a minor when the injury happened?
The time of a disability, minority or mental illness at accrual, is not counted (SDCL § 15-2-22), but an extension is limited to one year after the disability ceases, and to five years for a disability other than infancy.
What if I was partly at fault?
You can recover if your negligence was slight in comparison with the defendant’s, and the damages are reduced in proportion (SDCL § 20-9-2).
What is the filing deadline for a malpractice claim in South Dakota?
Two years from the care, counted from when 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?
Three years after the death (SDCL § 21-5-3); the personal representative brings the action for the spouse and children, or the parents and next of kin (SDCL § 21-5-5).
Is there a different notice rule for public hospitals in South Dakota?
Written notice of the time, place and cause of the injury must be given to the public entity within one hundred eighty days after the injury (SDCL § 3-21-2); the notice does not extend the time to sue.
Which providers does the South Dakota malpractice deadline cover?
Yes. SDCL § 15-2-14.1 names hospitals and nurses along with physicians, surgeons, dentists, chiropractors and other practitioners of the healing arts.
Does South Dakota limit what I can recover for medical malpractice?
The limit is on general damages ($500,000); special damages are not limited (SDCL § 21-3-11).
Other Pages That May Help
If your matter is in another part of South Dakota, start from the directory or a nearby community page.
