Medical malpractice: a real six-year ceiling
Under S.C. Code § 15-3-545(A), a medical malpractice claim must generally be commenced within three years from the treatment or three years from discovery, whichever applies — but in no event more than six years from the date of the occurrence itself. This six-year figure functions as a genuine absolute ceiling, a statute of repose, regardless of when the injury was actually discovered.
A distinct rule for foreign objects and implanted devices
When the claim involves a foreign object inadvertently left in the body, or the negligent placement of an appliance or apparatus, § 15-3-545(B) applies a different structure: two years from discovery, but never less than three years after the object or device was actually placed. This creates its own floor, separate from the general six-year repose that governs ordinary malpractice claims.
Minors in malpractice cases: a double-capped tolling rule
For medical malpractice specifically, tolling on account of minority is capped at not more than seven years, and in any case not more than one year after the disability ceases — a distinct, narrower tolling framework than South Carolina's general civil minor tolling rule.
Sexual abuse and incest: a genuinely generous, two-track deadline
Under S.C. Code § 15-3-555, an action to recover damages for an injury arising from sexual abuse or incest must generally be commenced within six years after the person turns 21, or within three years of discovering both the injury and its causal relationship to the abuse — whichever of those two comes later. The statute also explicitly states that parental immunity is not a defense against these claims.
A genuinely rare legislative "do-over"
Here's a real, distinctive piece of history. The same 2001 act that created § 15-3-555 also included a one-time revival provision: anyone whose sexual abuse or incest claim had already been barred under the prior, less generous statute of limitations was given a fresh three-year window from the new act's effective date to bring that same claim again. This kind of retroactive "lookback window," reopening claims the law had already closed, is a genuinely rare legislative choice.
When a defendant is absent from the state
Generally, a period during which a defendant is absent from South Carolina doesn't count against the statute of limitations, effectively pausing the clock during that absence.