NC state personal injury tort laws, car accident and injuries, statute of limitations

The sooner you seek medical treatment, the better. While there is no specific limit of time within which one must seek medical treatment, there is a limit of time within which you may bring a lawsuit against the adverse party seeking damaged (payment ), should they refuse to pay for your medical treatment.

This is known as the "Statute of Limitations," and it varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. It also varies according to the "cause of action," or the type of claim that you have.

In my jurisdiction, (Wisconsin) the Statute of Limitations is 3 years for bodily injury claims. This means that if a lawsuit is not filed with the court within 3 years of the date of the incjury causing event (auto accident), then the claim will be dismissed and the adverse party is off the hook for any liability for which they may have otherwise been responsible.

There is no legal time limit on obtaining medical examination and/or treatment, although there are statutes of limitations limiting the amount of time that you have to file a lawsuit against the person that injured you. However, in order to prevail in a personal injury claim, you have to prove that the actions of the defendant were the "proximate cause" of your injuries. The longer that you wait to go to the doctor, the less likely it is that you will be able to connect the accident and your symptoms. For example, if you are in a car accident and you immediately start hurting in part of your body that was fine before the accident, it is likely that you can show that the accident was connected to the pain. However, if you suffer no pain or apparent injury at the time of the accident and then six months later, you start hurting, it will be more difficult to convince a judge or jury that your pain is connected to the accident and not due to something else that happened in the intervening six months.

The North Carolina statute of limitations is three years unless it is a wrongful death case which is two years. You will have a proof/causation type problem in proving your medical case with a six month gap in treatment.