District of Columbia Notice of Intention to File Suit (Medical Malpractice — D.C. Code § 16-2802)

NOTICE OF INTENTION TO FILE SUIT

Medical Malpractice — District of Columbia

Pursuant to D.C. Code § 16-2802

Table of Contents

1. Cover / Caption Page
2. Notice of Intention to File Suit
3. Identification of Intended Defendants
4. Statement of Facts and Course of Care
5. Legal Basis of the Claim
6. Type and Extent of Loss / Injuries
7. Demand for Pre-Suit Records and HIPAA Authorization
8. Litigation Hold / Preservation Demand
9. Statute-of-Limitations and § 16-2803 Extension Statement
10. Proof of Service
11. Counsel's Internal NOI Compliance Checklist
12. Sources and References

1. COVER / CAPTION PAGE

[__/__/____]

VIA CERTIFIED MAIL — RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED
AND VIA PRIVATE PROCESS SERVER

[INTENDED DEFENDANT NAME], M.D.
[Last known address registered with the appropriate D.C. licensing authority]
[City, State ZIP]

Re: Notice of Intention to File Suit Pursuant to D.C. Code § 16-2802
Patient: [____________________ ]
Date(s) of Care at Issue: [__/__/____] through [__/__/____]
Place of Care: [____________________ ], Washington, D.C.

Dear Dr. [____________________ ]:

Pursuant to D.C. Code § 16-2802, this letter constitutes formal Notice of Intention to File Suit by [PATIENT or NAMED PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE] against you and others identified below in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, Civil Division, alleging medical malpractice arising from the care described herein.

This Notice is served not less than ninety (90) days prior to the commencement of any such action, in compliance with § 16-2802. The intended Plaintiff reserves all rights, including the rights afforded by §§ 16-2803 and 16-2804.

2. NOTICE OF INTENTION TO FILE SUIT

TO: [INTENDED DEFENDANT NAME], M.D., and to each additional intended defendant identified in Section 3 below.

FROM: [Patient / Personal Representative], by and through undersigned counsel.

TAKE NOTICE that, pursuant to D.C. Code § 16-2802, the undersigned, on behalf of the intended Plaintiff, intends to file an action in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia for medical malpractice arising out of the care, diagnosis, and treatment described in this Notice.

This Notice is served upon each of you not less than ninety (90) days prior to the commencement of such action. Pursuant to § 16-2802, "[a] legal action alleging medical malpractice shall not be commenced in the court unless the requirements of this section have been satisfied." This Notice is intended to satisfy that requirement.

3. IDENTIFICATION OF INTENDED DEFENDANTS

The intended Plaintiff anticipates naming the following Defendants:

A copy of this Notice is being served separately on each named Defendant. As to any Doe Defendant whose identity is presently unknown, the intended Plaintiff invokes the exception in D.C. Code § 16-2804(a)(1) and will serve such Defendant when identified.

4. STATEMENT OF FACTS AND COURSE OF CARE

The intended Plaintiff, [____________________ ], date of birth [__/__/____], received care from the above-identified providers as follows:

A. Background

[Briefly state pre-existing condition, presenting complaint, baseline.]

B. Chronology

1. [__/__/____] — [Encounter, provider, finding, decision, intervention.]
2. [__/__/____] — [Encounter, provider, finding, decision, intervention.]
3. [__/__/____] — [Encounter, provider, finding, decision, intervention.]
4. [__/__/____] — [The negligent act or omission and the immediate consequence.]
5. [__/__/____] — [Subsequent care, diagnosis of injury, attempts at remediation.]

C. Injury and Sequelae

[Concise statement: what went wrong; how it manifested; current condition.]

5. LEGAL BASIS OF THE CLAIM

The intended Plaintiff intends to assert claims for, including but not limited to:

a. Medical Negligence — breach of the applicable standard of care by one or more of the intended Defendants. The District of Columbia applies a national standard of care for board-certified specialists. Morrison v. MacNamara, 407 A.2d 555 (D.C. 1979).

b. Lack of Informed Consent — failure to disclose material risks, benefits, and reasonable alternatives prior to [____________________ ]. Crain v. Allison, 443 A.2d 558 (D.C. 1982).

c. Vicarious Liability (Respondeat Superior) — as to [Defendant Hospital / Group] for the acts and omissions of its agents, servants, and employees acting within the course and scope of employment.

d. Corporate / Direct Institutional Negligence — as to [Defendant Hospital] for negligent credentialing, retention, supervision, staffing, and/or implementation of patient-safety policies.

e. [Survival Action / Wrongful Death — if applicable] — pursuant to D.C. Code §§ 16-2701 to 16-2703.

f. Such other claims as may be supported by further investigation and discovery, the intended Plaintiff reserving the right under § 16-2802 to "add new legal theories discovered during court discovery or report injuries becoming known later."

The conduct of one or more intended Defendants fell below the applicable standard of care and was a direct and proximate cause of the injuries described in Section 6.

6. TYPE AND EXTENT OF LOSS / INJURIES

The intended Plaintiff has sustained, and continues to sustain, the following injuries and losses as a direct and proximate result of the conduct described above:

a. Physical injuries: [____________________ ];
b. Functional impairment / disability: [____________________ ];
c. Past medical, hospital, surgical, and rehabilitative expenses: approximately $[________ ] to date;
d. Future medical and rehabilitative expenses: estimated at $[________ ] (present value), subject to expert refinement;
e. Past lost earnings: approximately $[________ ];
f. Future lost earnings / loss of earning capacity: estimated at $[________ ] (present value);
g. Conscious physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment of life: in an amount to be determined by the trier of fact;
h. Other consequential damages: [____________________ ].

The District of Columbia imposes no statutory cap on either economic or non-economic damages in medical malpractice actions.

7. DEMAND FOR PRE-SUIT RECORDS AND HIPAA AUTHORIZATION

To facilitate pre-suit evaluation and the possibility of resolution within the 90-day notice window, the intended Plaintiff hereby demands:

a. Complete certified medical records of the intended Plaintiff in your custody, including all hospital, clinic, physician, nursing, ancillary, billing, imaging, pathology, laboratory, anesthesia, pharmacy, and electronic communication records;

b. Original imaging studies in DICOM format on CD or via HIPAA-secure electronic transfer;

c. Incident reports, root-cause analyses, and quality-improvement records to the extent not protected by privilege;

d. Identification of all health care providers, agents, employees, and contractors who participated in the care of the intended Plaintiff at any relevant time;

e. Liability insurance information sufficient to identify carrier(s), policy limits, and claims contact, in keeping with customary pre-suit practice.

A signed HIPAA authorization (45 C.F.R. § 164.508) is enclosed as Attachment 1. Additional authorizations specific to mental-health, substance-abuse, HIV, or genetic information will be provided upon request.

Please produce the requested records to undersigned counsel within thirty (30) days. Reasonable copy charges consistent with 45 C.F.R. § 164.524(c)(4) will be paid.

8. LITIGATION HOLD / PRESERVATION DEMAND

You are hereby placed on formal notice of a pending claim. You and your agents, employees, and contractors are required to preserve, and to suspend any routine destruction of, the following materials:

a. The intended Plaintiff's complete medical record in any format (paper, electronic, audio, video, imaging);

b. Audit trails, access logs, and metadata for the electronic medical record;

c. Internal communications (email, text, secure messaging, voicemail) referencing the intended Plaintiff's care;

d. Incident reports, root-cause analyses, peer-review materials, morbidity-and-mortality conference notes, and quality-improvement records to the extent not subject to privilege;

e. Policies, procedures, protocols, order sets, clinical pathways, and staffing schedules in effect on the dates of care;

f. Equipment-maintenance and service records for any device used in the intended Plaintiff's care;

g. Pathology slides and tissue samples;

h. Telephone, paging, and on-call schedules;

i. Any other document or thing reasonably likely to constitute discoverable evidence.

Spoliation of any of the foregoing materials will be the subject of an adverse-inference instruction and sanctions motion.

9. STATUTE-OF-LIMITATIONS AND § 16-2803 EXTENSION STATEMENT

The intended Plaintiff's cause of action accrued on or about [__/__/____]. The applicable three-year statute of limitations under D.C. Code § 12-301(8) is presently calculated to expire on [__/__/____].

[USE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:]

☐ Standard timing: This Notice is served more than ninety (90) days before the SOL expiration. The intended Plaintiff intends to file the Complaint on or after [__/__/____], being not less than ninety (90) days from the date of service of this Notice.

☐ § 16-2803 extension invoked: Because this Notice is served within ninety (90) days of the expiration of the applicable statute of limitations, the intended Plaintiff invokes D.C. Code § 16-2803, which extends the time for commencement of the action to ninety (90) days from the date of service of this Notice — i.e., on or before [__/__/____].

☐ § 16-2804(a) exception invoked as to certain defendants: The intended Plaintiff invokes the § 16-2804(a) exception as to [Doe Defendants / unlicensed providers / unknown claims / misnomer], expressly reserving the right to add such defendants without separate 90-day notice.

10. PROOF OF SERVICE

This Notice is served upon each addressee as follows:

I, [____________________ ], certify that on [__/__/____] I served a true copy of the foregoing Notice of Intention to File Suit upon each addressee at the address above, by the method indicated. The address used for each licensed health care provider is the last known address registered with the appropriate D.C. licensing authority, in compliance with D.C. Code § 16-2802.

_______________________________
[ATTORNEY NAME], D.C. Bar No. [__________ ]
[FIRM NAME]
[Address]
Washington, D.C. [_____]
Telephone: [(___) ___-____]
Email: [____________________ ]

Date: [__/__/____]

11. COUNSEL'S INTERNAL NOI COMPLIANCE CHECKLIST

11.1 Pre-Service

☐ Each intended Defendant identified and verified
☐ Last known address verified with the appropriate D.C. licensing authority (physician/nurse via D.C. Health Professional Licensing Administration; facility via D.C. Department of Health)
☐ Screenshot or printout of license-verification result preserved
☐ Federal-defendant screen completed (no FTCA-deemed provider; if any, switch to SF-95 / 28 U.S.C. § 2675)
☐ SOL expiration calendared; § 16-2803 election made if applicable
☐ Notice text drafted, partner-reviewed, and final
☐ HIPAA authorization signed by client and enclosed
☐ Cover letter customized for each Defendant
☐ Service method selected (recommended: certified mail RRR + private process server + email if known)

11.2 Service

☐ Notice served on every intended Defendant on or before [__/__/____]
☐ Tracking numbers and process-server affidavits collected
☐ Return receipts collected upon delivery
☐ Service date logged and 90-day clock started: filing eligible on or after [__/__/____]

11.3 Post-Service

☐ Defendant responses logged
☐ Records produced under demand received and bates-stamped
☐ Settlement discussions, if any, documented (not pleaded in Complaint)
☐ Updated injury / damages information collected
☐ Updated NOI sent only if a new theory or claim arises (preservation of § 16-2802(b) "newly discovered" reservation)

11.4 Pre-Filing

☐ 90 days have elapsed since service (or § 16-2803 election applies)
☐ Complaint drafted, NOI service pleaded specifically, Exhibit A (NOI + proofs of service) attached
☐ Civil Cover Sheet, filing fee, summonses prepared
☐ Mediation under § 16-2821 anticipated and post-filing calendar set

12. SOURCES AND REFERENCES

• D.C. Code § 12-301: https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/12-301
• D.C. Code § 12-302: https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/12-302
• D.C. Code § 16-2801: https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/16-2801
• D.C. Code § 16-2802: https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/16-2802
• D.C. Code § 16-2803: https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/16-2803
• D.C. Code § 16-2804: https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/16-2804
• D.C. Code § 16-2821: https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/16-2821
• D.C. Code § 16-2825: https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/16-2825
• D.C. Code § 16-2827: https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/16-2827
• D.C. Code § 16-2841: https://code.dccouncil.gov/us/dc/council/code/sections/16-2841
• Morrison v. MacNamara, 407 A.2d 555 (D.C. 1979)
• Crain v. Allison, 443 A.2d 558 (D.C. 1982)
• Bussineau v. President & Directors of Georgetown College, 518 A.2d 423 (D.C. 1986)
• D.C. Health Professional Licensing Administration: https://dchealth.dc.gov/service/health-professional-licenses
• D.C. Courts — medical malpractice mediation: https://www.dccourts.gov/services/mediation-matters/medical-malpractice
• 45 C.F.R. § 164.508 (HIPAA authorization)
• 28 U.S.C. § 2675 (FTCA — for federal defendants)

ATTACHMENT 1 — HIPAA AUTHORIZATION

[Insert signed authorization here, or reference the executed authorization served separately. See certificate_of_merit.md Part B.1 for the canonical D.C. authorization form addressing HIPAA, the D.C. Mental Health Information Act, 42 C.F.R. Part 2, and ancillary heightened-protection categories.]

This template is provided for use by licensed District of Columbia counsel. It is not legal advice. The 90-day Notice of Intention under D.C. Code § 16-2802 is jurisdictional; failure to comply is grounds for dismissal of the Complaint absent waiver under § 16-2804. All citations must be verified against current D.C. Code before use.