Court Opinion

ID: 9739343
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:12:36.86015+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:11.758224
License: Public Domain

SABERS, Justice,
dissenting.
The trial court was correct in holding that the two year statute of limitation for medical malpractice governed the Richards’ causes of action based upon tort or contract. South Dakota law provides a two-year statute of limitation for “[a]n action against a ... practitioner of the healing arts ... whether based upon contract or tort.” SDCL 15-2-14.1.
The trial court was correct that Lenz, a psychologist, is a practitioner of the healing arts under the facts of this case because the Richards were seeking treatment for a “human disease, ailment, ... injury, unhealthy or abnormal physical or mental condition.” SDCL 36-2-1(3). They had an “unhealthy mental condition” and they were seeking marriage counseling from a practitioner of the healing arts. We do not need to “expand the language of the statute beyond its plain language,” we simply need to read and interpret it 'plainly.
Under the facts of this case, we should reverse and remand to the trial court to determine whether the continuing representation doctrine or fraudulent concealment extended the two year period of the statute of limitation. The same rationale should apply to the Richards’ causes of action against West River Mental Health Center. See Koenig v. Lambert, 527 N.W.2d 903, 905-06 (S.D.1995).