Medical Malpractice Lawyer California

In the state of California, Medical Malpractice occurs when a doctor, dentist, medical facility, or other medical provider fails to act properly and causes injury. If you have been a victim of Medical Malpractice call us at 800-816-1529.

General Information Regarding Your Medical Malpractice Case in California

• If you or a loved one has already been the victim of Medical Malpractice in the State of California, you should immediately stop reading and call our law firm at (800) 816-1529 Ext. 1 for a free telephone consultation. We will let you know over the phone if we believe you have a case and if we can assist you.
• If we believe we can be of assistance to you and you decide to retain our services, we will send the necessary legal documents to retain our law firm electronically via email. With modern electronics, you never have to come to our office.
• If you do not have health insurance or a primary care physician, we can immediately refer you to a qualified doctor in your area for medical care. (Yes, even if you lack health insurance)
• Yes, all of this can be accomplished with a single phone call to our law firm. We make every effort to simplify the process for you.

Cases of Medical Malpractice in California

In the state of California, medical malpractice occurs when a doctor, dentist, medical facility, or other medical provider fails to act as an ordinary professional in the same community would in comparable circumstances.

If a doctor makes a mistake that an ordinary doctor in the same community would not make under the same circumstances, this would also be considered medical malpractice in California.

For example, if a doctor is supposed to remove your right kidney but removes your left kidney instead, this would constitute medical malpractice.

Typically, Medical Malpractice is not as simple to prove as the preceding example, but the example is intended to illustrate what these types of cases entail.

Required expert testimony

In the case of Medical Malpractice, unlike many other Personal Injury cases, the only way to prove that there was malpractice is through the testimony of another doctor stating that there was malpractice, because only a trained doctor is competent to testify as to whether or not there was medical malpractice.

In California, medical malpractice cases are largely governed by statute.

Cap on Damages AB 35, 2023

Statutorily, California Medical Malpractice general damages for pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and emotional distress cannot exceed a set amount of money as of 2023 according to the new AB 35 signed by Newsome.

The legislation establishes two separate caps, depending on whether a wrongful death claim is involved. In a wrongful death case, the cap increases to $500,000. Each January 1st thereafter, this cap increases by $50,000 until it reaches $1 million. If the medical malpractice case does not involve wrongful death, the cap starts at $350,000, and increases each year by $40,000 until it reaches $750,000.

The cap does not apply to out-of-pocket expenses such as medical bills, future medical bills, wage loss, and future wage loss.

Limit on Attorney Fees

This legislation AB 35 does away with the old fee structure and instead ties tiered fee limits to the stage of the representation at which the amount is recovered. Attorney fees are limited by statute.

Time Limit for Filing a Medical Negligence Claim

In California, unlike other personal injury cases, you only have one (1) year to file a medical malpractice claim from the date you knew or should have known about the malpractice, and no later than three (3) years regardless, unless a foreign object or material was left in your body after surgery, in which case the statute of limitations begins on the date of discovery.

The statute of limitations differs slightly for minors. Actions by or on behalf of minors must be filed within three years of the date of the negligent act, unless the child is under six years of age, in which case the action must be filed within three years or before the child’s eighth birthday, whichever provides the longer time period.

Compulsory Arbitration

The state of California permits health care providers and their patients to enter into arbitration agreements. However, absent an agreement between the parties, California does not mandate that medical malpractice claims be arbitrated prior to litigation.

Most California HMO plans contain an arbitration clause that removes your case from the normal court system and requires it to be tried before a private, neutral arbitrator agreed upon by both parties.

Call us Now

It is crucial that you choose the right law firm to handle your Medical Malpractice case, as these cases typically require substantial financial and other resources.

Our law firm has the necessary resources and knowledge. We regularly handle Medical Malpractice cases and are experts in this field.

Call 800-816-1529 x for a free consultation on your Medical Malpractice case.

Get Help Now

The Law offices of Norman Gregory Fernandez & Associates has almost 3 decades of experience handling personal injury cases all over the state of California. We have handled thousands of cases and obtained millions of dollars in settlements and judgments for our clients. Call now for a no pressure free consultation with an actual attorney. 800-816-1529 extension 1. 

You can download our California Accident App for iOS and Android by clicking here and visiting our California Accident App page. This application will allow you to record and transmit all information related to your Medical Malpractice case to our office.