South Carolina Birth Injury Law

South Carolina’s front-loaded process: notice, affidavit, mediation

South Carolina makes a family litigate half the case before the lawsuit exists. Under S.C. Code § 15-79-125, a malpractice claim begins with a Notice of Intent to File Suit, served on every prospective defendant together with an expert’s affidavit specifying at least one negligent act or omission, and the parties must then attempt mediation before the complaint may be filed. The design is deliberate: by the time a South Carolina birth injury case reaches a courtroom, an obstetrical expert has committed under oath to what went wrong, and both sides have sat across a mediation table.

Two practical consequences. First, the medical workup (fetal monitoring strips, delivery notes, cord gases, NICU records) must be complete before the notice is served. Second, the process has a protective feature: filing the Notice of Intent tolls the statute of limitations while the mandatory steps play out.

Deadlines, and the limits on a child’s extra time

The limitation period is three years from the treatment, omission, or operation, or from discovery where the injury could not reasonably have been found sooner, with a six-year outer limit (S.C. Code § 15-3-545). Children receive tolling for minority, but South Carolina caps how far disability can stretch a malpractice deadline: the law imposes a ceiling of roughly seven years, so a birth injury claim cannot simply wait for adolescence. Between the repose, the tolling ceiling, and the parents’ own adult-clock claims, the safe assumption in South Carolina is that the window is measured in early childhood. Our statute of limitations guide compares every state’s approach.

The indexed caps

South Carolina caps non-economic damages at $350,000 per defendant, adjusted upward for inflation each year (the operative figure now sits well above the base), with an overall maximum of about three times the single-defendant cap when several institutions share fault (S.C. Code § 15-32-220). The cap can lift in aggravated circumstances, such as conduct constituting gross negligence or a defendant impaired or acting criminally. And as everywhere, economic damages are uncapped: the lifetime cost of care for a child with HIE or cerebral palsy, proven through an expert life-care plan, remains fully recoverable.

How birth injury claims work in South Carolina

The substantive claim is the same as everywhere: expert proof that care during pregnancy, labor, or delivery fell below the accepted standard and caused the child’s injury. Even attentive, appropriate care sometimes ends in injury, and such injuries do not amount to malpractice. The recurring South Carolina fact patterns mirror the national ones: fetal distress without a timely response, delayed cesareans, mismanaged stuck-shoulder deliveries, untreated jaundice. The state’s highest-acuity newborn care runs through MUSC’s Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital in Charleston and Prisma Health Children’s Hospitals in Columbia and Greenville, and records from those NICUs anchor many cases that began at smaller delivery units upstate or in the Lowcountry. Military families at Fort Jackson, Shaw, or the Beaufort facilities should know that deliveries at military hospitals proceed under federal law, on federal deadlines.

Who handles South Carolina birth injury cases

Birth Injury Advocate is an alliance between two named law firms: Banville Law (New York and Washington, D.C.) and The Weitz Firm, LLC (Pennsylvania and New Jersey). Neither firm’s attorneys are licensed in South Carolina. When you contact us about a South Carolina delivery, we connect your family with the alliance’s vetted network of local birth injury attorneys: South Carolina-licensed lawyers who run the § 15-79-125 process and try malpractice cases in the state’s courts. The referral costs you nothing, the case review is free, and fees are only ever paid from a recovery.

Frequently asked questions

How long do I have to file a birth injury lawsuit in South Carolina?

Three years from the treatment or from discovery of the injury, with a six-year outer limit (S.C. Code § 15-3-545). Minority tolling exists but is limited: the law does not let a child’s claim wait indefinitely, and courts have applied a seven-year ceiling to disability tolling. Filing the pre-suit Notice of Intent pauses the clock while the mandatory process runs.

What has to happen before a South Carolina malpractice suit is filed?

Two things: a Notice of Intent to File Suit accompanied by an expert affidavit identifying at least one negligent act (S.C. Code § 15-79-125), and then mandatory pre-suit mediation within the statutory window. Only if mediation fails may the lawsuit proceed.

Does South Carolina cap damages in birth injury cases?

Non-economic damages are capped at $350,000 per defendant, indexed annually for inflation (now well above that base figure), with an overall ceiling of roughly three times the single-defendant cap when multiple institutions are liable (S.C. Code § 15-32-220). There is no cap on economic damages, which include lifetime care costs.

Is every birth injury in South Carolina malpractice?

No. Careful, appropriate care sometimes still ends with an injured child. The expert affidavit requirement exists precisely because a claim must rest on a qualified professional’s opinion that the standard of care was breached and the breach caused the injury.

Sources

This page is for general education and is not legal advice; statutes are cited by number so you can verify them, and deadlines depend on facts specific to your case. Legal statements reflect the reviewing attorneys’ professional experience. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.