Media & Insights
November 8, 2021
Mitchell v. Los Robles Regional Medical Center (November 2, 2021, B309123)
California Code of Civil Procedure section 340.5 sets the statute of limitations for medical negligence at three years after the date of an injury or one year after the plaintiff discovers the injury, or with reasonable diligence should have discovered the injury, whichever occurs first.
In Mitchell, the court held that section 340.5 applied to plaintiff’s claim for injuries sustained from a fall she suffered while walking from the bathroom when she was a patient being monitored in a hospital emergency room. The court reasoned that plaintiff’s claim that the hospital’s nurse was negligent in failing to help her walk to and from the bathroom was a professional negligence claim because it alleged the nurse breached his professional duties. Section 340.5 applies to acts performed in rendering medical care, and the court concluded that the nurse’s judgment that plaintiff could use the restroom without assistance was an alleged breach of professional duties arising from the medical care rendered to plaintiff. Plaintiff’s claim was thus time-barred as it was filed more one year after she knew of her injury.