Medical Malpractice Deadlines in Pennsylvania: Discovery, Repose and Minors

The starting point

Two years from the injury for most Pennsylvania malpractice claims. If that were the whole rule this page would not be necessary.

The discovery rule

Patients frequently cannot know they were harmed by substandard care. A missed cancer diagnosis is discovered when the cancer presents later. A surgical error is discovered when a subsequent doctor identifies it.

Where the injury or its cause could not reasonably have been discovered despite reasonable diligence, time may run from when it was or should have been discovered rather than from the treatment itself.

The limit is reasonable diligence. Once you know, or should know, that you were harmed and that it may relate to your care, the clock generally starts, even if you do not yet know the details.

The statute of repose

Pennsylvania also has an outer limit that applies regardless of discovery, cutting off claims after a defined period from the act complained of. It exists so liability does not remain open indefinitely.

There are recognized exceptions, notably for a foreign object left in the body. And the repose period does not apply in the same way to minors.

Children

A minor’s own claim generally does not begin running until they turn eighteen, which can leave a significant period in which a birth injury or childhood malpractice claim remains available. A parent’s own claim for medical expenses may run on a different and shorter timetable.

This is why families are sometimes told their child’s claim expired when it has not.

Wrongful death

Where the malpractice caused death, the wrongful death and survival claims generally run two years from the date of death rather than from the treatment. Where the treatment and the death are separated by a long illness, those are different dates.

The practical answer

Do not decide from a calendar that you are too late. These doctrines interact, and the answer for a specific set of facts is frequently different from what a general rule suggests.

Equally, do not treat the discovery rule as unlimited. Where a claim is arguably out of time, moving quickly matters considerably more than it would otherwise.