Medical Malpractice Lawyer California
Surgical errors, misdiagnosis, medication mistakes, birth injuries — when a healthcare provider’s negligence harms you, you deserve answers and full compensation. 50+ years of experience. $1 billion+ recovered. No fee unless we win.
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California’s MICRA law sets a 3-year / 1-year discovery deadline (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 340.5) — missing it ends your case permanently. The 2022 AB 35 reform raised the non-economic damages cap from $250,000 to $350,000 (rising to $750,000 by 2034). There is no cap on economic damages — your medical bills, lost wages, and future care costs are fully recoverable. Scranton Law represents malpractice victims throughout Northern California on a contingency basis. You pay nothing unless we win. Call 1-800-707-0707 any time, 24/7.
What Is Medical Malpractice in California?
Medical malpractice occurs when a licensed healthcare provider — a doctor, surgeon, nurse, pharmacist, anesthesiologist, or hospital — fails to meet the accepted standard of care in the medical community, and that failure causes harm to a patient. The standard of care is not perfection; it is the level of skill and care that a reasonably competent provider in the same specialty would use under the same circumstances.
The key distinction from a bad outcome is negligence. Medicine involves risk, and not every bad result is malpractice. But when a provider makes an error that a reasonably competent peer would not have made — or fails to act when action was clearly required — and that error causes injury, that is the foundation of a malpractice claim.
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Representing California injury victims since the 1970s
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Settlements and verdicts across California
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Common Types of Medical Malpractice
Medical errors take many forms. These are the categories we handle most frequently in California:
Surgical Errors
Wrong-site surgery, retained instruments or sponges, unintended organ damage, post-operative complications from negligent care. These are some of the most serious and well-documented forms of malpractice.
Misdiagnosis & Delayed Diagnosis
Failure to diagnose cancer, heart attack, stroke, pulmonary embolism, appendicitis, or infection in time for effective treatment. Delayed diagnosis often means the condition progresses to a stage where it is no longer curable.
Medication & Prescription Errors
Wrong drug, wrong dose, dangerous drug interactions that were not flagged, or failure to account for a patient’s known allergies. These errors can occur at the prescribing, dispensing, or administration stage.
Birth Injuries
Cerebral palsy, Erb’s palsy, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy, and other injuries caused by negligent monitoring during labor, improper use of forceps or vacuum, or delayed emergency C-section decisions. These cases often involve lifetime care costs.
Anesthesia Errors
Failure to review patient history, administering the wrong dose, inadequate monitoring during a procedure, or delayed response to anesthesia complications. Anesthesia errors can cause permanent brain damage, cardiac arrest, or death.
Failure to Obtain Informed Consent
A provider who performs a procedure without explaining the material risks, alternatives, and expected outcomes — or who proceeds despite a patient’s refusal — may be liable even if the procedure itself was performed correctly.
California’s MICRA Law: What You Need to Know
MICRA — the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act — is a set of California statutes that governs medical malpractice cases. It is unlike the rules in most other states, and it directly affects your case in three ways:
Statute of Limitations
Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 340.5: You have the earlier of 3 years from the injury date or 1 year from when you discovered (or reasonably should have discovered) the harm. Missing this deadline bars your case entirely.
Non-Economic Damages Cap
Cal. Civ. Code § 3333.2: Pain-and-suffering damages are capped — $350,000 for injuries after Jan 1, 2023, rising to $750,000 by 2034 for non-death cases. Economic damages (medical costs, lost income, future care) have no cap.
Contingency Fee Limits
Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 6146: Attorney contingency fees in medical malpractice cases are capped on a sliding scale. You will never be charged more than the legal limit, and we explain exactly what fee applies before you sign anything.
The 1-year discovery clock begins when you reasonably should have known something went wrong — not when a second doctor confirms it. If you had symptoms suggesting a missed diagnosis, or were told by a nurse that “something went wrong,” that may start the clock even if you didn’t have a formal second opinion yet. Do not wait to call us.
What Damages Can You Recover in a California Malpractice Case?
A successful malpractice claim can recover two categories of damages:
Economic Damages (No Cap)
All past and future medical bills, costs of corrective surgery or ongoing treatment, lost wages and loss of earning capacity, in-home care and rehabilitation costs, and other out-of-pocket expenses caused by the malpractice. These are uncapped and fully recoverable.
Non-Economic Damages (MICRA Cap)
Pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and loss of consortium. These are capped under MICRA. For injuries occurring after January 1, 2023: $350,000, rising annually to $750,000 by 2034. For wrongful death: $500,000 in 2023, rising to $1,000,000 by 2034.
For a patient left with permanent disability or requiring a lifetime of corrective care, economic damages alone can exceed $1 million — $2 million — or more. The MICRA cap on non-economic damages is a real constraint in catastrophic cases, but it does not cap the dollars that matter most in high-severity claims.
How a California Medical Malpractice Claim Works
Medical malpractice cases follow a distinct process that differs from other personal injury claims. Here is what to expect:
Free Case Evaluation
We review your medical records and the circumstances of your care to assess whether a deviation from the standard of care occurred and caused harm. This evaluation is free and confidential.
Expert Review & Certificate of Merit
California requires that before a malpractice lawsuit is filed, the attorney must have consulted with a qualified medical expert who confirms the merit of the claim (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 411.35). We work with board-certified specialists in the relevant field.
90-Day Pre-Suit Notice
California requires a minimum 90-day written notice to the defendant healthcare provider before filing suit (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 364). This period is sometimes used for early settlement discussions.
Investigation & Discovery
We gather all relevant medical records, depose treating physicians and experts, and build the factual record showing exactly where the standard of care was breached and how that breach caused your injury.
Settlement or Trial
Most medical malpractice cases resolve in settlement. When the defendant or their insurer will not offer a fair amount, we are fully prepared to take your case to trial before a jury. We do not pressure clients to settle short.
Claims Against Government Hospitals & Clinics
If your care was provided at a county hospital, UC Health facility, a federally funded community health center, or any other government-owned entity, different rules apply. You must file a government tort claim within 6 months of the date of injury (Gov. Code § 911.2) before you can file a lawsuit. Missing this separate deadline can bar your case even if the standard 3-year/1-year MICRA period has not expired.
If you received care at UC Davis Medical Center, Zuckerberg San Francisco General, Contra Costa Regional Medical Center, any California state prison medical facility, or a VA hospital, call us immediately — the government claim deadline may be running right now.
Get a Free Medical Malpractice Case Evaluation
Tell us what happened. A member of our team will review your situation — confidentially and at no cost to you — and let you know if you have a case. No obligation. No pressure.
Medical Malpractice FAQ
Under MICRA (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 340.5), the deadline is the earlier of: (1) 3 years from the date of injury, OR (2) 1 year from the date you discovered — or reasonably should have discovered — the harm. For injuries at government-owned facilities, you must also file a government tort claim within 6 months (Gov. Code § 911.2) before you can sue. If a foreign object was left inside your body, a different “continuous treatment” rule may apply. Do not wait to find out which deadline applies to your situation.
Yes — but only on non-economic damages (pain and suffering, emotional distress). Under MICRA as amended by AB 35 (2022): for injuries on or after January 1, 2023, the cap is $350,000, rising annually to $750,000 by 2034 for non-death cases. For wrongful death: $500,000 in 2023, rising to $1,000,000 by 2034. There is no cap on economic damages — medical bills, lost wages, future care, and out-of-pocket losses are fully recoverable.
Nothing out of pocket. Scranton Law handles medical malpractice cases on a contingency fee basis — our fee comes out of the recovery, only if we win. Under Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 6146, contingency fees in medical malpractice cases are capped on a sliding scale. We will explain exactly what fee applies before you sign anything. If we don’t recover, you owe us nothing.
Medical malpractice requires three elements: (1) the provider owed you a duty of care, (2) they breached the standard of care — did something a reasonably competent provider in that specialty would not have done, or failed to do something they should have done, and (3) that breach caused your injury. Common examples: wrong-site surgery, failure to diagnose cancer or a heart attack in time, medication errors, birth injuries, retained surgical instruments, and anesthesia mistakes.
Yes. California requires that the attorney consult a qualified medical expert before filing (Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 411.35) and expert testimony is essential at trial to establish both what the standard of care required and how the defendant deviated from it. We maintain relationships with board-certified specialists in surgery, oncology, obstetrics, anesthesiology, and other fields who review cases for us.
No. Informed consent covers known risks of a procedure performed correctly — it does not protect a provider from liability for negligence. If the surgeon performed the procedure incorrectly, operated on the wrong site, or failed to monitor you properly, the consent form is not a shield. Whether a result was a “known risk” versus a consequence of negligence is often the central question in these cases — that is why an attorney review matters.
MICRA is the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act, a set of California laws enacted in 1975. It governs the statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims, caps non-economic damages, limits contingency fees, and allows for periodic payment of large awards. AB 35, signed in 2022, was the first major reform since MICRA was enacted — it substantially increased the non-economic damages cap and indexed it to inflation, giving victims significantly more recovery potential than under the old fixed $250,000 cap.
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