The time within which a lawsuit must be commenced is called the statute of limitations. Once the statute of limitations has run out, the injured person will be legally barred from filing a lawsuit based on those injuries. Often, the degree of a child’s injuries may not be immediately apparent to the doctors or family. It may be years until the parents realize the full extent of the harm done by an injury that occurred during childbirth. In New York, if the victim is under the age of 18, he or she has 10 years from the date of the injury to file a lawsuit. Parents can always choose to act on their child’s behalf sooner than ten years after the child’s birth and should be in contact with a birth injury attorney as soon as a birth injury is suspected to ensure no deadlines are missed.
