Walters v. Cleveland Regional Medical Center

This is one of two “surgical sponge” cases decided today regarding the time limits placed on medical-malpractice suits. 1 The issue here: did Tangie Walters raise a fact issue as to whether she could avail herself of the Open Courts provision 2 as an exception to the two-year statute of limitations? 3 We answer the same way we did twenty-five years ago with regard to the claimant in Neagle v. Nelson: yes. 4 The Texas Constitution grants foreign-object claimants a reasonable opportunity to discover their injuries and file suit, 5 even if the two-year limitations period has run (though not, as…