Augutis v. United States

FLAUM, Circuit Judge.

After doctors at a Veterans Affairs hospital amputated his right leg below the knee, Jerome Augutis filed an administrative claim for medical malpractice under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). When his claim was denied, he requested reconsideration; when that too was denied, he filed suit in federal court. By this time, however, over five years had elapsed since the amputation. The district court dismissed the case because under the FTCA the United States is liable only to the extent a private would be under state law, and in Illinois plaintiffs must bring medical…