Opinion ID: 1678496
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: discovery exception

Text: A cause of action accrues when the plaintiff discovers, or through reasonable diligence should have discovered, the act of malpractice or the resulting injury. Taylor v. Karrer, 196 Neb. 581, 244 N.W.2d 201 (1976); Toman v. Creighton Memorial St. Josephs Hosp., Inc., 191 Neb. 751, 217 N.W.2d 484 (1974). In Toman, this court held: The presence of an unexpected result after surgery should not be tantamount to discovery of the negligent act and the resultant injury, where the surgeon himself repeatedly reassures the patient that she is improving and recovering from the unexpected result, prescribes a course of therapy outside the office to aid in recovery, keeps the patient returning, and fails during the post-operative period to either determine or advise the patient that the unexpected result (weakness of the left arm) is a permanent condition from which she will not recover. Id. at 758-59, 217 N.W.2d at 489. There was evidence before the trial court that Dr. Iwersen assured Frezell she would not recover from the complications of the surgery and that her condition was permanent. She admitted that Dr. Iwersen told her the complications related to the surgery and that the cause of the complications was the hemorrhage, which had been controlled with packing. In fact, Dr. Iwersen's records show he wrote letters to insurance companies and her present attorney stating that she was totally disabled. Dr. Longo, not a party to this action, also testified he told Frezell that her bladder condition was permanent. In addition, she was hospitalized on at least 16 different occasions for treatment of the pain and complications resulting from the original surgery. In view of this evidence, she should have reasonably discovered the basis for her cause of action more than 1 year before the filing of her petition, as found by the trial court.