California Medical Malpractice Statute of Limitations: How Long You Have to Sue

The basic rule: one year or three years

A California medical malpractice lawsuit must generally be filed within three years after the injury or one year after the patient discovers, or reasonably should have discovered, the injury, whichever comes first (Code of Civil Procedure 340.5). Both clocks run at once. The case is late if either one has run out, so you need to know the date of each.

The one-year period starts when you are aware of the injury and its negligent cause, or have information that would make a reasonable person suspect wrongdoing and look into it. You do not need to know every fact (Sanchez v. South Hoover Hospital (1976) 18 Cal.3d 93). A doctor telling you something went wrong, or a second opinion that points to an error, is the kind of information that can start the one-year clock.

Before suing a health care provider, you must give at least 90 days’ written notice of the intent to sue, describing the legal basis of the claim and the injuries (Code of Civil Procedure 364). If the notice is served in the last 90 days before the deadline, the deadline is extended. The California Supreme Court has held that this extends the one-year period by 90 days (Woods v. Young (1991) 53 Cal.3d 315).

Delayed diagnosis, children and objects left in the body

Can you sue a doctor more than a year after a missed diagnosis? Sometimes. In failure-to-diagnose cases, California courts have held that the injury that starts the clock is the first appreciable harm from the missed diagnosis, which happens when the undiagnosed condition develops into a more serious one. That can be well after the visit where it was missed (Drexler v. Petersen (2016) 4 Cal.App.5th 1181; Steingart v. White (1988) 198 Cal.App.3d 406).

For children, the lawsuit generally must be filed within three years of the malpractice. A child injured before age 6 has until three years or until the eighth birthday, whichever is later. Parents of a young child injured at birth or in early childhood should still act early, because records and witnesses are easier to find while the events are recent. Our birth injury page covers those cases.

The three-year outer limit can be extended only for fraud, intentional concealment, or a foreign object with no medical purpose left in the body. When something like a surgical sponge or instrument is left inside a patient, the three-year deadline is extended, but the one-year-from-discovery deadline still applies. Once you learn about the object, assume the one-year clock has started.

Deaths, county hospitals and UC hospitals

When a death results from medical negligence, the three-year period runs from the date of death, and the one-year period runs from when the family discovered, or should have discovered, the negligent cause (Larcher v. Wanless (1976) 18 Cal.3d 646). Write down when the family first suspected that the care caused the death, because that date can matter for the one-year period. Our wrongful death page explains who in the family can bring the claim.

If a public entity such as a county hospital is responsible, a written government claim generally must be presented within six months after the claim accrues, before any lawsuit (Government Code 911.2). The claim accrues on the same date the malpractice claim would accrue under the normal statute of limitations (Government Code 901). Courts require the patient to meet both the government claim deadlines and the malpractice deadline, including the one-year discovery rule (Carrillo v. County of Santa Clara (2023)).

A missed six-month deadline can sometimes be cured by applying for leave to present a late claim, but the application must be made within a reasonable time and no later than one year after accrual (Government Code 911.4). After the entity gives written notice rejecting the claim, the lawsuit generally must be filed within six months of that notice. If no proper notice is given, the limit is two years from accrual (Government Code 945.6).

The six-month claim rules do not apply to the Regents of the University of California, which runs Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center and UCLA West Valley Medical Center (Government Code 905.6). Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and Olive View-UCLA Medical Center are Los Angeles County hospitals, so the six-month claim does apply to them. Our page on suing a county or UC hospital has more.

Kaiser arbitration and emergency room (EMTALA) claims

Kaiser members in California generally agree at enrollment to binding arbitration of malpractice claims (Kaiser’s 2026 enrollment form). Kaiser applies the same statutes of limitations that would apply in court, measured by the date the Demand for Arbitration is served (OIA Rules). So the demand must be served within the Code of Civil Procedure 340.5 deadline. Our Kaiser malpractice overview explains the arbitration system.

Under the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, a Medicare-participating hospital with an emergency department must screen anyone who comes to it and, if an emergency condition exists, stabilize the patient or arrange an appropriate transfer, regardless of ability to pay (42 U.S.C. 1395dd). A patient harmed by a violation can sue the hospital for damages available under state law, and that lawsuit must be filed within two years of the violation.

Which deadline applies to me? A plain-language checklist

Start by writing down three dates: the date of the care that went wrong, the date you first noticed real harm, and the date you first learned or suspected that a medical error caused it. Then look at who provided the care. A private doctor or hospital, Kaiser, a county hospital and a UC hospital each follow a slightly different path, and the list below shows how they differ.

These points are general rules. Your own dates may raise questions only a lawyer can answer, such as when you should have discovered the injury, or whether a missed diagnosis caused harm later. If you are close to any of these limits, call a lawyer this week instead of waiting for the next appointment. A lawyer can also check whether more than one of these paths applies, for example a child treated at a county hospital, where both the six-month claim and the malpractice deadline have to be met.

• Private doctor or hospital: one year from discovery or three years from the injury, whichever comes first.
• Missed or late diagnosis: the injury is the first appreciable harm, when the hidden condition becomes more serious.
• Child injured before age 6: three years or until the eighth birthday, whichever is later.
• Object left in the body: the three-year limit is extended, but the one-year discovery limit still applies.
• Family member died: three years from the death, one year from discovering the negligent cause.
• County hospital, such as Harbor-UCLA or Olive View-UCLA: a written government claim within six months, plus the malpractice deadline.
• UC hospital, such as Ronald Reagan UCLA: no six-month government claim, but the malpractice deadline applies.
• Kaiser member: the Demand for Arbitration must be served within the malpractice deadline.
• Emergency room screening or transfer claim under EMTALA: a lawsuit against the hospital within two years of the violation.
• Close to a deadline: a 90-day notice served in the last 90 days extends the one-year period by 90 days.

How a malpractice case is proved

California treats medical negligence as a form of negligence (CACI No. 500). A health care professional is negligent if they fail to use the skill, knowledge and care in diagnosis and treatment that other reasonably careful practitioners would use in the same or similar circumstances (CACI No. 501). Meeting the deadline gets the case in the door, and the proof then has to show that the care fell below that standard and caused the harm.

Expert testimony is generally required to prove the standard of care, the breach and causation. The narrow exception covers matters within common knowledge, such as a sponge left inside a patient after surgery. Because a doctor has to review the records before a case can be evaluated, it helps to start early, well before the deadline, so the review and the 90-day notice both fit inside the time you have.

What to do now

Request your records in writing. California patients and their representatives can inspect their medical records within 5 working days of a written request and receive copies within 15 days (Health and Safety Code 123110). Write down dates and the names of the doctors and nurses involved, and keep any letters or bills you receive from the provider. If you have a patient portal, save copies of messages and test results there too, since access to an account can change after you leave a practice or a health plan.

Do not sign anything from the provider’s insurer before you get advice. Then talk to a lawyer about your dates. Beverly Law reviews malpractice claims from our Los Angeles office, in English or Spanish, and you owe no fees or costs unless we win. Read more on our Los Angeles medical malpractice page, or call (310) 552-6959. The first call is free, and we can tell you which deadline rules seem to fit your situation and what records to gather first.

• Request your complete medical records in writing.
• Write down the key dates and the names of everyone involved.
• Find out whether the provider was private, Kaiser, a county hospital or a UC hospital.
• Do not sign anything from the provider’s insurer.
• Talk to a lawyer before the one-year mark.

Michael Shemtoub founded Beverly Law in 2008 and has been licensed to practice law in California since 2007. He earned his law degree at UC Hastings, is admitted to practice in the U.S. District Courts for the Central and Northern Districts of California, and has tried cases to verdict. As the firm’s managing attorney, he oversees its cases.

Common questions

Related pages

Malpractice at a County or Other Public Hospital in California · How to File a Kaiser Arbitration Demand in California · Delayed Cancer Diagnosis in California · Wrongful Death from Medical Malpractice in California

Important: This page is general information about California law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Deadlines and damage limits depend on the facts of each case; talk to a lawyer about yours. MICRA amounts are for judgments, awards and settlements in 2026. Last reviewed: November 5, 2026.