Opinion
May 31, 1991
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Nassau County (O'Shaughnessy, J.).
Ordered that the order is affirmed, with costs.
The plaintiff alleges that an anonymous surgeon who sutured an accidental laceration on the dorsum of her right wrist in July 1986, committed medical malpractice. She did not institute her lawsuit, however, until on or about October 4, 1989. Since an action to recover damages for medical malpractice must be instituted within two years and six months of the occurrence of the malpractice (CPLR 214-a), the plaintiff's action is time-barred. The statute is not tolled by the plaintiff's lack of knowledge of the physician's malpractice (see, Meath v Mishrick, 68 N.Y.2d 992; cf., Goldsmith v Howmedica, Inc., 67 N.Y.2d 120). Nor has the plaintiff alleged fraudulent concealment sufficient to invoke the doctrine of equitable estoppel (cf., Simcuski v Saeli, 44 N.Y.2d 442). Thompson, J.P., Brown, Eiber and Harwood, JJ., concur.