6 months to 8 years

J. Niley Dorit, a California attorney whose practice represents birth injury victims, says that the statute of limitations for filing California birth injury claims varies greatly and depends upon several factors. He explained each limitation:

• 8 years. The good news is that for the children who are severely injured, the deadline is not until they’re eight years old. So that’s plenty of time to figure out if there’s something wrong. Most commonly it’s known right away that there’s a serious injury because the child goes directly to a neonatal intensive care unit and the doctors are telling the mom that there are some serious problems with the baby.

  In cases where there are more moderate injuries, but still profound life-altering injuries, it is possible that the developmental milestones are not going to be seen within the first 12 or 18 months. However, usually by the age of two or three a child has developed to the point where you’re really going to know if there’s going to be a serious problem.

• One year. There is a separate statute of limitations for the mother and that’s one-year. She does have a claim when her child is seriously injured, but her claim is severely limited by California law and generally is much lower than that of the child who may need lifetime medical care.
• 6 months. If the negligent care occurs at a California county hospital or a hospital that’s part of a public healthcare district, that is, any kind of public entity, then the deadline can be as short as six months.

When there is an injured child, it’s really critical for the parents to contact a California lawyer who can investigate what’s going on immediately in the event that there would be a six-month deadline. If you've been injured due to a hospital or HMO's negligence, contact an experienced California birth injury attorney to discuss your situation and evaluate your options. You may be entitled to compensation.