Missouri MRI Side Effect Lawsuits

Missouri residents who suffer from Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF), formerly known as nephrogenic fibrosing dermopathy (NFD), may be entitled to file an NSF lawsuit and recover for their injury.  NSF is a progressive, debilitating disease characterized by hardening of the skin and other body tissues.  NSF attacks people with impaired kidney or liver function, especially dialysis patients and recent kidney transplant recipients, who were injected with a gadolinium-based contrast agent for an MRI, MRA or other medical scan.

Missouri NSF Lawsuits, Missouri MRI Lawsuits, Missouri Gadolinium Lawsuits

A Missouri gadolinium lawsuit, or NSF lawsuit, is brought against the manufacturer(s) of the gadolinium-based contrast agent that caused the Missouri resident to develop NSF.  It is a product liability claim because the gadolinium-based contrast agents that cause NSF are defective products.  Missouri product liability lawsuits often include causes of action for strict liability, negligence, and breach of warranty.

Missouri Statutes of Limitations for NSF Claims

The State of Missouri, like most other jurisdictions, places deadlines on when a person can file a lawsuit.  These deadlines are called statutes of limitations.  Missouri residents who have developed NSF are particularly fortunate because the Missouri statutes of limitations that apply to their claims are much longer than in other states.

Under Missouri law, the statute of limitations for a personal injury claim is five years.  This includes a claim for negligence, strict liability, and breach of warranty.  By way of comparison, in most other states, the statute of limitations is only two years.

If a person has died from NSF, the statute of limitations for a wrongful death claim is three years from the date of death.  However, as a practical matter, for a person's heirs to be able to recover for the person having contracted NSF, the person must have been diagnosed with NSF before their death.  The statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims in Missouri is only two years.  An NSF claim is usually not brought as a medical malpractice claim if a claim successfully can be asserted against the manufacturer of the gadolinium-based contrast agent that caused NSF.

PLEASE NOTE: When the statute of limitations begins to run for an individual person's right to bring a claim for developing NSF varies depending on the specific facts of each person's case.

     Go HERE to learn more about gadolinium-based contrast agents.

     Go HERE to learn more about nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF), including how NSF is diagnosed.

Selected Missouri Statutes:

Chapter 537
Torts and Actions for Damages
Section 537.100

Limitation of action--effect of absence of defendant and nonsuit.
537.100. Every action instituted under section 537.080 [wrongful death claim] shall be commenced within three years after the cause of action shall accrue; provided, that if any defendant, whether a resident or nonresident of the state at the time any such cause of action accrues, shall then or thereafter be absent or depart from the state, so that personal service cannot be had upon such defendant in the state in any such action heretofore or hereafter accruing, the time during which such defendant is so absent from the state shall not be deemed or taken as any part of the time limited for the commencement of such action against him; and provided, that if any such action shall have been commenced within the time prescribed in this section, and the plaintiff therein take or suffer a nonsuit, or after a verdict for him the judgment be arrested, or after a judgment for him the same be reversed on appeal or error, such plaintiff may commence a new action from time to time within one year after such nonsuit suffered or such judgment arrested or reversed; and in determining whether such new action has been begun within the period so limited, the time during which such nonresident or absent defendant is so absent from the state shall not be deemed or taken as any part of such period of limitation.


Chapter 516
Statutes of Limitation
Section 516.120

What actions within five years.
516.120. Within five years:
(1) All actions upon contracts, obligations or liabilities, express or implied, except those mentioned in section 516.110, and except upon judgments or decrees of a court of record, and except where a different time is herein limited;

(2) An action upon a liability created by a statute other than a penalty or forfeiture;

(3) An action for trespass on real estate;

(4) An action for taking, detaining or injuring any goods or chattels, including actions for the recovery of specific personal property, or for any other injury to the person or rights of another, not arising on contract and not herein otherwise enumerated;

(5) An action for relief on the ground of fraud, the cause of action in such case to be deemed not to have accrued until the discovery by the aggrieved party, at any time within ten years, of the facts constituting the fraud.