Emedinews:Insights on Medicolegal Issues:What is the Continuing Treatment Rule?

In medical practice, when a physician retires or moves and sells his or her practice to a succeeding health care provider, patients records are often sold as part of the transaction. However, physicians should be warned that many states have medical record retention acts, and these acts usually do not provide an exception for record-keeping requirements even in such a transfer.

• When the patient treatment continues for a period of time, during which it is difficult to ascertain when the negligence occurred. Some jurisdictions have adopted a "continuing treatment" rule to determine the time of injury for purposes of the statute of limitations.
• The continuing treatment rule provides another exception to the statute of limitations by extending the time allowed for the filing of a complaint.
• The malpractice action would only accrue, thus activating the statute of limitations, when treatment of the medical condition ceases.

(Ref: American College Of Legal Medicine, the Medical Malpractice Survival Handbook 2007)