The plaintiff’s wife gave birth at Richmond University Medical Center in 2015, and attending physician Michael A. Grecco treated her. During a prenatal visit four days before birth, Grecco noted she had a cervical myoma, which he planned to remove after delivery. However, the woman went into labor spontaneously, necessitating a C-section, and the doctor discovered the myoma was much larger than previously thought.

Three months after the birth, Grecco ordered tests that revealed cervical cancer, which led to her death in December 2015. Grecco was found negligent for failing to refer the woman to a gynecologic oncologist in a timely manner.

New York’s statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims typically requires lawsuits to be filed within 2.5 years of when the incident occurred or the harm is reasonably discovered. While state law pauses the filing period for minors until they reach age 18, New York has imposed a hard cap of 10 years from the date of the incident for medical malpractice. Thus, families typically have until the child’s 10th birthday to file a lawsuit on behalf of their minor child.

In the case of wrongful death caused by a birth injury, the statute of limitations in New York is much shorter—families generally have just two years from the death to file a lawsuit. It’s important to act early after a birth injury to gather evidence before it becomes more difficult to find.