The deadline for filing a medical malpractice lawsuit is usually three years after the malpractice occurred. Certain exceptions and conditions apply, however:
If you don’t discover the malpractice until too late to meet the three-year deadline, and if your failure to discover the malpractice was reasonable (the doctor left a sponge in your body after surgery and your symptoms were delayed, for example), you can get another year to file a lawsuit.
If you were a minor at the time of the malpractice, you have until your 19th birthday to file a lawsuit. Before you turn 18, however, your parents can file a lawsuit on your behalf.
Under no circumstances will you be allowed to file a lawsuit more than eight years after the malpractice occurred, even if one of the above exceptions does apply.