Negligence: Wrongful Death-Medical Malpractice-Statute of Limitations

Defendant moved to dismiss plaintiff’s wrongful death claim arising from the death of plaintiff’s son in a local detention center. Defendant was originally named “Physician Doe.” Plaintiff alleged that defendant served as the chief of medical services, claiming that the county provided records that misidentified the chief of medical services and that she would have correctly named defendant but for that misidentification. Defendant argued that the amended complaint was untimely under the statute of limitations, although plaintiff asserted doctrines of relation back, fraudulent concealment and equitable estoppel.

Where the record showed that “Physician Doe” was an intentional misidentification because she was aware that the party named in the records had been succeeded as chief of medical services, plaintiff could not rely on the relation back doctrine where she could not establish how the county’s conduct caused the untimeliness of her amended complaint.

Defendant’s motion to dismiss granted.

Troupe v. St. Louis County (MLW No. 84689/Case No. 4:20-cv-01790-SRC – 14 pages) (U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri, Clark, J.)