A bad result is not malpractice by itself. Medicine goes wrong sometimes even when everyone does the job well, and California law accepts that.
The question is narrower. Did the care fall below the standard of care, and did that failure cause the harm?
What is the standard of care?
It is what a reasonably careful doctor with similar training would have done in the same situation. It is not perfection, and it is not the choice a different doctor might have made.
A surgeon who picks one accepted method over another has met the standard. A surgeon who leaves a sponge inside has not.
What does a California case need?
Four things, and all four together.
- A doctor and patient relationship, which creates the duty.
- Care that fell below the standard.
- A link between that failure and the harm.
- Losses you can name, such as more surgery, lost income or a shortened life.
Number three is where most cases end. A person can prove the care was poor and lose anyway, because the same harm would have happened regardless.
What usually is not malpractice?
Three situations come up again and again.
- A known risk that was explained before the procedure, and that happened anyway.
- A disease that was always going to progress, whatever anyone did.
- A judgment call between two accepted treatments, where one turned out worse.
Consent paperwork does not settle it on its own. A form that lists a risk does not cover a mistake in how the work was done.
What usually does qualify?
These come up most often in the cases families ask us about.
- Surgery on the wrong site, or an object left behind.
- A cancer or a heart attack missed on a scan that showed it.
- A diagnosis delayed long enough to change the outcome.
- The wrong drug, or the wrong dose.
- An injury to a baby or a mother during delivery.
- A patient sent home from an emergency room with a condition that needed admission.
Do you need a doctor to say the care was poor?
Yes, in almost every case. California requires expert testimony to prove the standard of care and the breach, because a jury has no way to judge it alone.
A notice step comes first as well. Section 364 of the Code of Civil Procedure requires 90 days of written notice to the provider before a lawsuit is filed.
How long do you have?
Section 340.5 sets the deadline. It gives one year from the date you discovered the injury, or three years from the injury itself, whichever comes first.
A public hospital adds a second, shorter clock. Our guide to wrongful death deadlines in California explains the six month government claim, which applies to county hospitals here.
Is there a limit on what you can recover?
There is a cap on non economic damages, which covers pain and loss of enjoyment. It does not cap medical bills, lost income or future care.
The cap used to be one fixed number for decades. A 2022 law replaced it with a schedule that rises every year.
The figure now depends on the year of the claim, and on whether the patient died. Ask us for this year’s number, because an older article will give you the wrong one.
How this plays out in Los Angeles
This county has a mix of large teaching hospitals, county hospitals and small clinics, and the deadline rules differ across them. A case against a county hospital can be over in six months while a case against a private clinic has a year.
Our team starts by working out which hospital or group employed the provider. That one answer sets the deadline, the paperwork and often the insurer.
What to do now
- Ask for a complete copy of your records, including imaging and the notes from every visit.
- Write down dates, names and what you were told, while you remember it.
- Find out whether the hospital is private, county or state owned.
- Have someone look at it before the one year mark, not after.
Request the records in writing and save the date you asked. A provider who delays does not extend your deadline.
Ask whether you have a case
We can look at the records and tell you what a medical expert would need to see. Some of these turn out to be a known risk, and we will say so.
There is no fee to ask, and no fee unless we win. Here is how we work as a medical malpractice lawyer in Los Angeles, and how to reach our team in English, Spanish or Armenian.
