In California, the statute of limitations for medical malpractice actions is generally one year after the plaintiff discovers, or should have discovered, the injury, or three years from the date of the injury, whichever occurs first [1, 2]. Specific exceptions and tolling provisions can extend these periods [1, 2].
A medical malpractice lawsuit must be filed within one year after the plaintiff discovers, or knew of facts that would have caused a reasonable person to suspect, that harm was caused by someone's wrongful conduct 1. Alternatively, the lawsuit must be filed within three years from the date the alleged injury occurred 2. The shorter of these two periods applies [1, 2].
The one-year limitation period begins when the plaintiff discovers the harm and its wrongful cause 1. This means the plaintiff must have known, or with reasonable diligence should have discovered, the facts of the alleged wrongful act or omission 1. For instance, if a plaintiff experiences new symptoms after a surgery and a reasonable person would suspect these symptoms were caused by the surgery, the one-year clock starts ticking from that point 1.
The three-year limitation period begins from the date the alleged injury occurred 2. This period is an outside limit, meaning that even if the plaintiff did not discover the injury or its cause, the action generally cannot be brought more than three years after the injury itself 2.
Tolling provisions for the one-year limit: The one-year period can be extended if the plaintiff proves certain general applicability tolling provisions, such as absence from California, insanity, or imprisonment 1. For example, if the defendant was absent from California, the period for filing the lawsuit is extended by the duration of that absence 1.
Tolling provisions for the three-year limit: The three-year period can be extended under specific circumstances 2. These include:
If any of these conditions are met, the period for filing the lawsuit is extended for the amount of time corresponding to the tolling event 2. For example, if the defendant intentionally concealed facts, the three-year period would be extended for the duration of that concealment 2.
This information does not cover specific statutes of limitations for other types of professional malpractice, such as attorney malpractice, which has its own one-year and four-year limits with distinct tolling provisions [5, 7]. It also does not address special revival statutes for claims related to sexual assault by a physician under specific circumstances and timeframes [3, 4]. Furthermore, this does not cover claims related to childhood sexual abuse, which have their own specific commencement periods and revival provisions 6. Claims arising from the Northridge earthquake also have unique statute of limitations rules 8.
Cited in this article. Open Basil Brief to read the passage in full.
Cited in this article. Open Basil Brief to read the passage in full.
Cited in this article. Open Basil Brief to read the passage in full.
Cited in this article. Open Basil Brief to read the passage in full.
This page is one answer. Put your own facts to the same corpus and get the passages back with it.
Ask Basil BriefBasil AI is our meeting notetaker for lawyers. It runs on your device, so it never sends your recordings anywhere. Leave your email and we will send you a code for 30 days free.
This is for Basil AI, the notetaker — a different product from Basil Brief, which you are reading now. We use your email to send the code and occasional updates.
Your code is on its way. If it is not there in a few minutes, look in spam.