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Your Garretson Medical Malpractice Attorney
When medical care in Garretson 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.
What Counts as Medical Malpractice in South Dakota
The statute that sets the deadline, SDCL § 15-2-14.1, reaches physicians, surgeons, dentists, hospitals, sanitariums, nurses, chiropractors and other practitioners of the healing arts, and it covers claims for malpractice, error, mistake or failure to cure.
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.
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.
Common Medical Malpractice Claims
Malpractice claims come in many forms. The ones below are common, and each depends on linking a failure in care to the injury.
Misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis
A claim can arise when a condition is missed or identified late. The question is whether the delay or error departed from accepted medical practice and caused harm that earlier treatment would have avoided.
Surgical mistakes
Operating room claims examine whether the surgeon and the team followed accepted practice for the procedure, and whether a departure from it, rather than a known risk, caused the harm.
Wrong drug or wrong dose
Medication claims often start with a mistake in ordering, dispensing or giving a drug. The question is where in the process the care departed from accepted practice and whether the error caused the harm.
Injuries during pregnancy or delivery
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
Under SDCL § 15-2-14.1, the period is two years after the alleged malpractice, error, mistake or failure to cure shall have occurred.
Because SDCL § 15-2-14.1 runs from the occurrence of the alleged malpractice, error, mistake or failure to cure, waiting to look into a claim can use up much of the two years.
Deadlines for Minors in South Dakota
A patient who was a minor or mentally ill when the claim accrued gets the disability period excluded from the deadline (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).
Wrongful Death After a Medical Error
South Dakota allows an action for damages when a death is caused by a wrongful act, neglect or default of the kind that would have let the patient bring a claim (SDCL § 21-5-1).
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.
Damages in South Dakota Malpractice Claims
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.
The absence of a limit does not mean any amount is guaranteed; the outcome of a claim depends on its facts and the evidence.
The Slight Comparison Rule
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.
Whether the patient’s negligence was slight in comparison is decided without disclosing a percentage of fault by special interrogatory (SDCL § 20-9-2).
Because fault can be assigned to providers who are not defendants, identifying every provider involved in the care early matters.
Claims Against Public Hospitals and Government 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.
Public entities include the state and its agencies, municipalities, counties, school districts and other public entities established by law (SDCL § 3-21-3 names who receives the notice, such as the county auditor for a county or the mayor or city finance officer for a municipality).
Giving notice does not extend the filing deadline (SDCL § 3-21-2). A minor or incapacitated person may ask the court for extra time to give notice, within two years of the event (SDCL § 3-21-4).
Venue for a Claim From Garretson
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 Garretson, that county may well be Minnehaha County.
The Court and Hospitals Behind a Garretson Claim
Minnehaha County is the county the Census Bureau assigns to Garretson. 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.
Next Steps for a Garretson 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
Is there a different notice rule for public hospitals in South Dakota?
One hundred eighty days for written notice (SDCL § 3-21-2), given to the officer named in SDCL § 3-21-3.
Which providers does the South Dakota malpractice deadline cover?
Physicians, surgeons, dentists, hospitals, sanitariums, registered and licensed practical nurses, chiropractors and other practitioners of the healing arts, in contract or tort (SDCL § 15-2-14.1).
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).
Which county would a Garretson malpractice case be filed in?
Venue follows SDCL § 15-5-8 or SDCL § 15-5-6: where the damages were inflicted or the cause arose, or where a defendant resides. For care in Garretson, Minnehaha County is often one option.
What if the patient was a minor when the injury happened?
SDCL § 15-2-22 excludes the time of a disability from the deadline, and caps the extension at one year after the disability ceases.
Can I recover if I share some blame in South Dakota?
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).
How long do I have to file a medical malpractice claim in South Dakota?
The period is two years from when the alleged malpractice occurred (SDCL § 15-2-14.1).
Other Pages That May Help
If the care happened elsewhere in South Dakota, these pages may be a better starting point.
