Washington Malpractice Suit Termination Rule Is Unconstitutional

Washington’s eight-year statute of repose for medical malpractice suits violates the state constitution, the state’s top court said.

Answering a question certified to it by a federal trial court, the Washington Supreme Court said that a rule requiring dismissing suits filed more than eight years after the alleged malpractice occurred doesn’t pass muster under the state constitution’s privileges and immunities clause.

Washington’s statute of limitations for medical malpractice cases is three years, plus an additional year if the injury isn’t discovered during the three-year period, the court said.

But the statute of repose, first enacted in 1976 and re-enacted in ...