PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ...

905 F.2d at 745. Santos concedes that she was not affirmatively
misled by York Health or the government - Santos simply made
no inquiry into York Health’s status while receiving treatment
nor during the two years that followed when an administrative
FTCA claim could have been timely filed. Santos’ attorney
conceded that he did not confirm his assumption that York
Health and its employees were private entities. To toll the
FTCA statute of limitations because plaintiff is ignorant of
defendant’s federal status, plaintiff “must at the very least show
that the information could not have been found by a timely
diligent inquiry. . . .” Motley, 295 F.3d at 824, citing Gonzales,
284 F.3d at 291. Here, as in Motley, Santos had two years after
discovering the alleged negligence to learn of the Public Health
Service Act, 42 U.S.C. § 5201 et seq., (the Act) as amended by
the Federally Supported Health Centers Assistance Act of 1992,
Pub. L. No. 102-501, 106 Stat. 3268 (1992), for which York
Health had been deemed eligible since October 7, 1993, and to
inquire into its possible application to her claim. The “failure to
do so was a mistake of law that does not entitle [Santos] to
equitable tolling.” Id., citing Kubrick, 444 U.S. at 123-24.
“[H]owever harsh it may seem, the law is clear that, absent
active concealment, a plaintiff's ignorance of a person's status as
a federal employee does not excuse plaintiff's failure to file a
timely administrative claim.” Kelly v. Total Health Care, Inc.,
2000 WL 151280, at *1 (D. Md. Jan. 28, 2000), aff’d 3 Fed.
Appx. 15 (4th Cir. 2000).
The majority attempts to distinguish factually-similar
cases cited by the government that place the burden on plaintiffs
to investigate defendants’ legal status. The majority notes that
Santos’ attorney identified the doctors and their employer as
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