Chiropractor Malpractice Experts

When these personal injury cases occur in Atlanta, the lawyers from Davis Adams can be instrumental in helping you get injury compensation.

The most serious type occurs when a cervical manipulation causes an artery to stretch and/or dissect, leading to a stroke. A poorly performed or non-indicated cervical adjustment (often involving extreme rotation in which the chiropractor’s hands are placed on the patient’s head to rotate the cervical spine by rotating the head) by a chiropractor can result in a tear to the carotid or vertebral arteries leading to the brain. 

The vertebral artery is particularly vulnerable because it winds around the topmost cervical vertebra to enter the skull, so that any sudden rotation may stretch the artery and tear its delicate lining. This arterial tear or injury can bleed, which turns into a blood clot, or thrombus, which will then cut off blood flow to the brain and cause a stroke and there will be serious treatment needed.

A chiropractic stroke may not become evident for days or weeks following the cervical manipulation. In other cases, the patient may actually suffer a stroke while still in the chiropractor’s office, just seconds after the cervical manipulation.

Chiropractors, and their chiropractor injury insurance corporations, generally deny any link between cervical manipulations and stroke—a position ridiculed by the mainstream medical community given the prevalence of stroke following this dangerous procedure. 

Thus, chiropractic stroke cases must be pursued aggressively by a personal injury attorney experienced in evaluating these cases and injuries and communicating with stroke victims’ treating neurologists and neurosurgeons.

WHAT IS THE STATUTE OF LIMITATION FOR CHIROPRACTOR MALPRACTICE?

Generally, the statute of limitations for chiropractic malpractice and injury in Georgia is two years from the date of the negligent care or injuries. However, certain circumstances can extend the statute of limitation (for example, when a provider conceals negligent care that’s later discovered). Other scenarios can involve shorter time periods within which an injuries case must be pursued (for example, when the negligent provider is employed by a government entity, which can trigger claim notification deadlines as short as six months from the date of the negligent care). 

Further, some specific types, such as when a foreign object is left inside a patient after surgery, have unique statutes of limitation (for foreign objects, it’s one year from the date the object is discovered).

And to make matters more confusing for a chiropractor patient, chiropractic treatment cases are also subject to a five-year statute of repose. This is intended to be a “final deadline,” beyond which an injury claim cannot be filed for any reason. But it doesn’t always work that way; there are some exceptions.

So, the best answer: it depends. And our best guidance: don’t try to determine the statute of limitation for a chiropractor injury on your own; contact us and our partners, Jess Davis and Chad Adams will be more than happy to collect and analyze the facts needed to provide you with the correct answer.