AN
ACT Relating to actions for injuries resulting from health care; amending RCW
4.16.350; and creating a new section.
BE IT
ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec.
1. RCW
4.16.350 and 1988 c 144 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:
Any
civil action for damages for injury occurring as a result of health care which
is provided after June 25, 1976 against:
(1)
A person licensed by this state to provide health care or related services,
including, but not limited to, a physician, osteopathic physician, dentist,
nurse, optometrist, ((podiatrist)) podiatric physician and surgeon,
chiropractor, physical therapist, psychologist, pharmacist, optician,
physician's assistant, osteopathic physician's assistant, nurse practitioner,
or physician's trained mobile intensive care paramedic, including, in the event
such person is deceased, his estate or personal representative;
(2)
An employee or agent of a person described in subsection (1) of this section,
acting in the course and scope of his employment, including, in the event such
employee or agent is deceased, his estate or personal representative; or
(3)
An entity, whether or not incorporated, facility, or institution employing one
or more persons described in subsection (1) of this section, including, but not
limited to, a hospital, clinic, health maintenance organization, or nursing
home; or an officer, director, employee, or agent thereof acting in the course
and scope of his employment, including, in the event such officer, director,
employee, or agent is deceased, his estate or personal representative;
based
upon alleged professional negligence shall be commenced within three years of
the act or omission alleged to have caused the injury or condition, or one year
of the time the patient or his representative discovered or reasonably should
have discovered that the injury or condition was caused by said act or
omission, whichever period expires later, except that in no event shall an
action be commenced more than eight years after said act or omission:
PROVIDED, That the time for commencement of an action is tolled upon proof of
fraud, intentional concealment, or the presence of a foreign body not intended
to have a therapeutic or diagnostic purpose or effect, until the date the
patient or the patient's representative has actual knowledge of the act of
fraud or concealment, or of the presence of the foreign body; the patient or
the patient's representative has one year from the date of the actual knowledge
in which to commence a civil action for damages.
For
purposes of this section, notwithstanding RCW 4.16.190, the knowledge of a
custodial parent or guardian shall be imputed to a person under the age of
eighteen years, and such imputed knowledge shall operate to bar the claim of
such minor to the same extent that the claim of an adult would be barred under
this section. Any action not commenced in accordance with this section shall
be barred.
For
purposes of this section, with respect to care provided after June 25, 1976,
and before August 1, 1986, the knowledge of a custodial parent or guardian
shall be imputed as of April 29, 1987, to persons under the age of eighteen
years.
This
section does not apply to a civil action based on intentional conduct brought
against those individuals or entities specified in this section by a person for
recovery of damages for injury occurring as a result of childhood sexual abuse
as defined in RCW 4.16.340(5).
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 2. This
act applies to any cause of action filed on or after the effective date of this
act.
