Submitted
January 7, 2019
Page 785
Appeal
from the Superior Court of the District of Columbia,
(CAM-7831-17), (Hon. Robert R. Rigsby, Trial Judge)
Brian
Keith Waugh, pro se.
Crystal
S. Deese, Rockville, and Diona F. Howard-Nicolas, Baltimore,
were on the brief for appellee.
Before
Thompson and Easterly, Associate Judges, and Ruiz, Senior
Judge.
OPINION
Ruiz,
Senior Judge:
This
appeal arises out of a medical malpractice action filed by
pro se appellant Brian Keith Waugh against appellee
MedStar Georgetown University Hospital (the
"Hospital"). The trial court dismissed appellants
amended complaint on the alternative grounds that it was
filed outside
Page 786
of the statutory three-year limitations period governing
medical malpractice claims, and that appellant did not
provide appellee with ninety days pre-suit notice as
required by statute. We affirm.
I. Factual Background
Appellant
alleges that he received improper treatment at the Hospital
between September 7-8, 2014, when two nurses went
"fishing" for a vein in his right arm. The first
nurses attempt to insert the intravenous needle caused
appellants arm to "bleed[ ] significantly from the
needle hole." And when a second nurse inserted the
needle, appellants "thumb felt funny." A radiology
technician then "took out the needle in [appellants]
right arm and put one in the back of [his] right hand without
a problem," but it "caused the back of
[appellants] hand to sting intensely," and appellant
"screamed out, Ahhhhhh!" Appellant subsequently
sought medical care related to the injury. His hand sometimes
"feel[s] like it is going to sleep," and he
occasionally experiences "prickly pains, or sharp pains
in the back of [his] wrist."
Appellant
filed his complaint on November 22, 2017.[1] After the Hospital
filed a motion to dismiss the complaint, appellant filed both
a brief in opposition and an amended complaint. The Hospital
filed a motion to dismiss the amended complaint, and
appellant filed a motion to amend his brief in opposition to
the Hospitals motion to dismiss the original complaint.
Then, appellant filed a brief in opposition to the Hospitals
motion to dismiss the amended complaint.
The
trial court issued an omnibus order resolving all outstanding
motions on February 23, 2018. As relevant here, the trial
court: (1) denied the Hospitals motion to dismiss the
initial complaint as mooted by the amended complaint, (2)
denied appellants motion to amend his brief in opposition to
that motion as also mooted by the amended
complaint,[2] and (3) granted the Hospitals motion
to dismiss the amended complaint on the grounds that
appellant did not file his complaint within the three-year
limitations period established by D.C. Code § 12-301(8) ...