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Your Sturgis Medical Malpractice Attorney
If you or someone you love was hurt by a doctor, nurse or hospital in Sturgis, 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
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.
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.
An unexpected outcome does not prove a mistake. What matters is whether care in Sturgis departed from accepted practice and whether that departure caused the harm.
Common Medical Malpractice Claims
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.
Diagnostic errors
A late or missed diagnosis can allow an illness to progress. These claims look at what the provider did, what was reasonably available to do, and what an earlier diagnosis would have changed.
Mistakes during surgery
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
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.
Birth injuries
Claims about harm at birth look at the care given and ask whether a departure from accepted practice caused the injury, which is why complete records matter.
Filing Deadlines Under South Dakota Law
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.
Children and Patients Under a Disability
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).
Extra time for a disability has limits in SDCL § 15-2-22: not more than five years unless the disability is infancy, and in every case not beyond one year after it ends.
A Death Caused by Medical Care
SDCL § 21-5-1 makes a person or corporation liable in a wrongful death action when the death was caused by a wrongful act, neglect or default that would have entitled the injured person to sue.
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.
Under SDCL § 21-5-5, a wrongful death action is brought by the personal representative and benefits the spouse and children, or the parents and next of kin if there is no spouse or child.
Compensation Limits for a Malpractice Claim
A malpractice plaintiff in South Dakota faces a $500,000 limit on total general damages, whether the claim is decided by a court or by binding arbitration (SDCL § 21-3-11).
SDCL § 21-3-11 states that there is no limitation on the amount of special damages, so the $500,000 limit is a limit on general damages only.
The absence of a limit does not mean any amount is guaranteed; the outcome of a claim depends on its facts and the evidence.
How South Dakota Treats a Patient’s Own Negligence
A patient’s own negligence does not bar recovery when it was slight in comparison with the negligence of the defendant, but the damages are reduced in proportion to the patient’s negligence (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.
Claims Against Public Hospitals and Government Providers
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).
SDCL § 3-21-3 lists the officers to be notified, including the attorney general and the commissioner for the state and the county auditor for a county.
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).
Choosing the County to File In
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 Sturgis, that county may well be Meade County.
The Court and Hospitals Behind a Sturgis Claim
Meade County is the county the Census Bureau assigns to Sturgis. South Dakota Codified Law 16-5-1.2 places Meade County in the Fourth Circuit. Monument Health Sturgis in Sturgis is on the South Dakota Department of Health trauma hospital list as a designated trauma receiving hospital. If your care took place at a hospital like this, ask for the complete chart and an itemized bill, and write down every provider who treated you.
Next Steps for a Sturgis 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
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).
What if the hospital or provider is a government entity?
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).
Are special damages limited in a South Dakota malpractice claim?
The limit is on general damages ($500,000); special damages are not limited (SDCL § 21-3-11).
Which county would a Sturgis malpractice case be filed in?
At the plaintiff’s option, the county where the damages were inflicted or the cause of action arose (SDCL § 15-5-8); for care in Sturgis that can be Meade County. The county where a defendant resides is the general rule (SDCL § 15-5-6).
Is the deadline different if the patient was mentally ill?
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.
How does shared fault affect a South Dakota claim?
South Dakota allows recovery when the patient’s negligence was slight in comparison, with damages reduced by that share (SDCL § 20-9-2).
Other Pages That May Help
If your matter is in another part of South Dakota, start from the directory or a nearby community page.
