Statute of Limitations for Medical Malpractice in California
In most cases, California gives you one year from the date you discovered a medical injury, or three years from the date of the injury, whichever comes first, to file a medical malpractice lawsuit. Those deadlines are shorter than they look. You must give the provider 90 days’ notice before you sue, and your attorney needs time to gather your records and have a medical expert review them.
If you think a doctor, nurse, or hospital made a mistake, the clock may already be running. A medical malpractice lawyer can tell you exactly how much time you have left.
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- One year from discovery or three years from the injury, whichever comes first, is the general deadline under CCP § 340.5.
- Only fraud, intentional concealment, or a foreign object left in the body can pause the three-year limit.
- Children under six have until three years after the injury or their eighth birthday, whichever is longer.
- You must give 90 days' notice before suing, and serving notice in the final 90 days extends your deadline by 90 days.
- Claims against public hospitals require a government claim within just six months.
How Long Do I Have to File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit in California?
California Code of Civil Procedure § 340.5 sets two deadlines that run at the same time, and your lawsuit must be filed before the first one expires.
The first is the one-year discovery deadline. It starts when you knew, or reasonably should have known, that you were injured and that the injury may have been caused by negligent care. You do not need to be certain a mistake happened. A reasonable suspicion is enough to start the clock.
The second is the three-year outer limit. It starts on the date of the injury, whether or not you knew anything was wrong. Even if you discover the malpractice late, you generally cannot file once three years have passed, unless one of the narrow exceptions below applies.
How the Discovery Rule Works in Practice
Say a surgery in June 2025 leaves you with nerve damage, and your surgeon tells you it was an unavoidable complication. In April 2026, a second doctor reviews your records and tells you the damage likely resulted from an error during the procedure. Your one-year clock would generally start in April 2026, but you would still have to file your lawsuit before June 2028, three years after the surgery.
Delayed discovery most often comes up in diagnosis cases. A cancer misdiagnosis may not come to light until a later scan or a new doctor catches what the first one missed. Once you learn about a possible error, act quickly. If you miss the deadline, the court will dismiss your case no matter how strong it is.
Are There Any Exceptions to California’s Medical Malpractice Statute of Limitations?
Only three situations pause, or “toll,” the three-year outer limit under § 340.5. They do not stop the one-year clock once you discover the injury, so you still need to act within a year of finding out.
Proof of Fraud
Fraud applies when a provider lied to keep you from discovering the malpractice or from filing a claim. Examples include altering medical records or telling you a bad outcome was a normal risk while knowing an error caused it.
Intentional Concealment
Intentional concealment applies when a provider knowingly hid information you needed to discover the injury, such as withholding test results or leaving a mistake out of your chart. Fraud involves an active lie. Concealment involves deliberately keeping the truth from you.
Presence of a Foreign Body
If a sponge, clamp, needle, or other object with no therapeutic or diagnostic purpose was left in your body, the three-year limit does not run while the object goes undiscovered. Once it is found, you generally have one year to file. Retained objects are among the most common surgical errors we see.
Proof of fraud
Proof of fraud involves an intentional act by the healthcare provider that resulted in a medical mistake and caused harm to the patient. The health care provider then made an attempt to hide their mistake and prevent the truth from being known.
Intentional concealment
Intentional concealment involves the false representation of facts. In other words, a medical provider or a medical device manufacturer makes a statement they know to be incorrect, but insists that they’re telling the truth to the patient. The patient relied on the healthcare professional to tell the truth, but had their trust betrayed instead in the form of an injury.
Presence of a foreign body
A foreign body is something that was left behind after surgery that has no therapeutic or diagnostic purpose or effect. This includes surgical sponges, gauze, needles, and any object or tool that was used during the surgery.
How Does the Statute of Limitations Work for Minors?
Children have more time than adults, but the rules depend on the child’s age when the malpractice happened:
- Children six and older: The lawsuit must be filed within three years of the wrongful act.
- Children under six: The lawsuit must be filed within three years or before the child’s eighth birthday, whichever gives more time.
For example, a child injured at birth generally has until their eighth birthday to file a birth injury claim. The deadline is also paused if a parent or guardian and the provider or its insurer commit fraud or collude to keep a claim from being filed.
Parents should not treat the extra time as a reason to wait. Medical records and witness memories are easier to secure early, and a parent’s own claims, such as for the child’s medical bills, can follow the shorter adult deadlines.
Do I Have to Notify My Health Care Provider Before Filing a Lawsuit?
Yes. Under CCP § 364, you must give the provider at least 90 days’ notice of your intent to sue before you can file. No special form is required, but the notice must state the legal basis of the claim and describe the type of loss and the nature of your injuries in detail.
The notice requirement also affects your deadline. If you serve the notice within the last 90 days before the statute of limitations expires, the deadline is extended by 90 days from the date of service. That rule exists so the notice period does not eat up the time you have left, but it only helps if the notice is served correctly and on time.
Worried your deadline is close? Our medical malpractice attorneys can review your records, calculate your exact deadline, and serve the required notice. Call 888-285-3333 or fill out the free case review form on this page.
Deadlines for Claims Against Public Hospitals and Government Providers
If you were treated at a county hospital, a University of California medical center, or another facility run by a public agency, a much shorter deadline applies. Under the Government Claims Act, you must file a written claim with the agency within six months of the injury before you can sue. If the agency rejects the claim, you generally have six months from the written rejection notice to file your lawsuit.
Missing the six-month window is one of the most common ways valid malpractice claims are lost. Our guide to the California Tort Claims Act explains the process. Veterans Affairs and other federal facilities follow separate federal rules.
Statute of Limitations for Medical Malpractice Wrongful Death Claims
When medical negligence causes a death, the family’s claim generally follows the § 340.5 deadlines, not the two-year limit that applies to most wrongful death cases. That usually means one year from when the family discovered, or should have discovered, that negligence caused the death, and no more than three years from the death itself. Read more about the wrongful death statute of limitations in California.
Does the Deadline Change for Kaiser Patients?
Most Kaiser Permanente members agree to resolve malpractice claims through binding arbitration instead of a court lawsuit. The same § 340.5 deadlines still apply, and the arbitration demand must be served on time. Arbitration has its own procedures and timelines, so it helps to work with a firm that handles Kaiser Permanente malpractice claims.
How Much Is a Medical Malpractice Case Worth in California?
Economic damages, such as medical bills and lost income, have no cap. Non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, are capped under MICRA. For cases resolved in 2026, the cap is $470,000 for injury cases and $650,000 for wrongful death cases, and it rises each year through 2033. Learn more about the California medical malpractice damages cap.
Do I Need a Lawyer to File a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit?
You are not legally required to have one, but medical malpractice is one of the hardest types of injury claims to bring on your own. You generally need a qualified medical expert to explain how the care fell below the accepted standard and how that caused your injury. Hospitals and their insurers also defend these cases aggressively, and the notice and filing requirements leave little room for error.
Cutter Law P.C. has represented patients and families in medical malpractice cases across California, including through our Sacramento medical malpractice lawyers. We can gather your records, have them reviewed by medical experts, and make sure every deadline is met while you focus on your health.
Call 888-285-3333 or fill out the free case review form for a free case review.
Depending on the year when your case goes to trial, the medical malpractice damages cap could be anywhere from half a million to a million dollars, roughly.