Charleston Medical Malpractice: How to File a Claim Against a Hospital in South Carolina

Charleston is a major medical hub. MUSC Health (Medical University of South Carolina), Roper St. Francis Healthcare, Trident Medical Center, East Cooper Medical Center, and numerous specialty clinics serve patients from across the Lowcountry and beyond. These institutions employ thousands of physicians, surgeons, nurses, and medical professionals and treat hundreds of thousands of patients annually.

The vast majority of that care meets or exceeds the standard of care. But when it does not — when a surgeon makes a preventable error, a nurse administers the wrong medication, or a hospital fails to diagnose a life-threatening condition — the consequences for patients can be catastrophic. Medical malpractice claims in South Carolina are governed by specialized rules that differ significantly from standard personal injury cases. Understanding these requirements is critical for any Charleston-area patient who believes they have been harmed by negligent medical care.

According to a widely cited study published by the British Medical Journal, medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States, behind heart disease and cancer. Not all medical errors constitute malpractice, but when a healthcare provider’s negligence causes injury, South Carolina law provides a path to accountability and compensation.

Medical Malpractice in Charleston: When Hospital Errors Cause Harm

Medical malpractice occurs when a healthcare provider — physician, surgeon, nurse, anesthesiologist, pharmacist, or other medical professional — fails to provide care that meets the accepted standard of care in their field, and that failure causes injury to the patient. The standard of care is defined as what a reasonably competent healthcare provider in the same specialty, under the same or similar circumstances, would have done.

Charleston’s major hospitals — located in Downtown Charleston, North Charleston, and Mount Pleasant — handle everything from routine surgeries to complex trauma cases, cancer treatment, cardiac surgery, and neonatal intensive care. The higher the complexity of care, the greater the potential for both errors and catastrophic outcomes.

Common Types of Medical Malpractice in Charleston

Diagnostic Errors

Misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, and failure to diagnose are the most common forms of medical malpractice. When a doctor fails to diagnose cancer, heart disease, stroke, infection, or other serious conditions in a timely manner, the delay allows the disease to progress, often from a treatable stage to an untreatable or fatal stage. Diagnostic errors in Charleston emergency rooms — where physicians see high volumes of patients under time pressure — are particularly common.

Surgical Errors

Wrong-site surgery, retained surgical instruments, damage to adjacent organs or nerves, anesthesia errors, and post-operative complications from inadequate monitoring or premature discharge. Surgical errors can cause permanent disability, organ damage, infection, and death.

Medication Errors

Prescribing the wrong medication, administering the wrong dose, failing to check for drug interactions, and pharmacy dispensing errors. Medication errors can cause allergic reactions, organ damage, overdose, and death. In hospital settings, nursing medication errors — particularly during shift changes — are a persistent problem.

Birth Injuries

Failure to monitor fetal distress, delayed emergency C-section, improper use of forceps or vacuum extractors, and failure to diagnose and treat maternal complications. Birth injuries can result in cerebral palsy, brain damage, Erb’s palsy, and maternal death.

Hospital-Acquired Infections

Infections acquired during hospitalization due to inadequate sterilization, improper hand hygiene, contaminated equipment, or failure to follow infection control protocols. Surgical site infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, and central line-associated bloodstream infections are among the most common.

Failure to Follow Up

Discharging patients without adequate follow-up instructions, failing to communicate abnormal test results, and failing to ensure patients receive recommended specialist consultations or additional testing.

South Carolina Medical Malpractice Requirements

To succeed in a medical malpractice claim in South Carolina, you must prove four elements:

1. Duty — a physician-patient relationship existed, creating a duty of care
2. Breach — the healthcare provider deviated from the accepted standard of care
3. Causation — the deviation from the standard of care caused your injury (not just that an error occurred, but that the error caused harm)
4. Damages — you suffered actual damages as a result (medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, permanent disability, or death)

Each element must be established, typically through expert medical testimony. A bad outcome alone does not prove malpractice — medicine involves inherent risks, and not every complication is the result of negligence.

The Notice of Intent to File Suit Requirement

South Carolina imposes a critical pre-filing requirement for medical malpractice claims. Before filing a lawsuit, you must:

1. File a Notice of Intent to File Suit with each prospective defendant at least 90 days before filing the complaint (S.C. Code § 15-79-125)
2. Include an affidavit of an expert witness who has reviewed the medical records and identified at least one negligent act and the resulting damages

This pre-suit notice requirement serves as a screening mechanism to filter out non-meritorious claims. The expert affidavit must be from a qualified medical professional — not just any expert — who practices or has recently practiced in the same specialty as the defendant. Failure to comply with the notice requirement can result in dismissal of your case.

Expert Witness Requirements in SC Medical Malpractice Cases

South Carolina law (S.C. Code § 15-36-100) establishes strict qualifications for expert witnesses in medical malpractice cases:

• The expert must be licensed to practice medicine
• The expert must specialize or have specialized in the same field as the defendant (or a related field)
• The expert must have practiced medicine within the past five years
• The expert must be familiar with the standard of care applicable to the defendant’s specialty

Identifying and retaining qualified expert witnesses is one of the most critical — and expensive — aspects of a medical malpractice case. The expert’s opinions on the standard of care, the breach, and causation form the foundation of the entire case.

Damages and Caps in South Carolina Medical Malpractice Cases

South Carolina does not impose a statutory cap on compensatory damages in medical malpractice cases. You can recover:

• Economic damages — medical bills (past and future), lost wages, lost earning capacity, cost of future care, rehabilitation, and assistive devices
• Non-economic damages — pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of consortium, and disfigurement
• Punitive damages — available in cases of gross negligence, willful misconduct, or reckless disregard for patient safety; South Carolina caps punitive damages at the greater of three times compensatory damages or $500,000 (S.C. Code § 15-32-530), with exceptions for certain egregious conduct

Suing a Hospital vs. an Individual Doctor

In many medical malpractice cases, both the individual doctor and the hospital may be liable:

• Hospital liability — hospitals are liable for the negligence of their employees (nurses, technicians, employed physicians) under respondeat superior. Hospitals may also be directly liable for understaffing, inadequate training, equipment failures, and systemic failures in safety protocols
• Independent contractor physicians — many doctors who practice at Charleston hospitals are not hospital employees but independent contractors. However, if the hospital holds the doctor out as its agent (such as ER physicians who wear hospital badges), the hospital may still be liable under the doctrine of apparent or ostensible agency
• Multiple defendants — complex medical malpractice cases may involve the surgeon, the anesthesiologist, the nursing staff, the hospital, and potentially the physician’s medical group — each with separate insurance carriers and defense attorneys

Medical Malpractice Laws: South Carolina vs. Georgia

Filing Deadlines for Medical Malpractice Claims

• South Carolina — three years from the date of the injury or the date the injury was discovered or should have been discovered (S.C. Code § 15-3-545); however, the 90-day notice requirement means you must begin the process at least 90 days before the three-year deadline
• South Carolina statute of repose — six years from the date of the alleged act of malpractice, regardless of when the injury is discovered; after six years, the claim is barred
• Georgia — two years from injury (O.C.G.A. § 9-3-71), with a five-year statute of repose
• Minors — in South Carolina, minors generally have until their eighth birthday for birth injury claims, subject to certain conditions

How a Charleston Medical Malpractice Lawyer Can Help

Medical malpractice cases are among the most complex, expensive, and hotly contested areas of personal injury law. Hospitals and physicians carry substantial malpractice insurance and retain experienced defense attorneys. A Charleston medical malpractice lawyer from Roden Law can:

• Screen your case with qualified experts — retain board-certified medical experts in the relevant specialty to review your records and determine whether malpractice occurred before investing in a full case
• Handle the Notice of Intent requirements — prepare and serve the 90-day pre-suit notice with the required expert affidavit to comply with South Carolina’s screening statute
• Build a comprehensive case — obtain all medical records, radiology images, pathology reports, pharmacy records, and nursing notes; retain experts in the relevant specialties; and develop a clear narrative of how the provider’s negligence caused your injury
• Identify all liable parties — determine whether the hospital, individual physicians, medical groups, and other providers share liability
• Calculate full damages — medical malpractice injuries often require lifetime care; we ensure that future medical costs, lost earning capacity, and non-economic damages are fully valued

At Roden Law, we represent medical malpractice victims at MUSC, Roper St. Francis, Trident Medical Center, East Cooper Medical Center, and throughout the Charleston area. We handle every medical malpractice case on a contingency-fee basis — you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you.

If you believe you or a loved one has been harmed by medical negligence in Charleston, call us today at (843) 790-8999 or 1-844-RESULTS for a free consultation.

About the Author

Eric Roden

Founding Partner, CEO