Arizona medical malpractice law

You'll generally need to file your Arizona medical malpractice claim within two years. The clock began once you knew you were injured and that someone's negligence was involved, or reasonably should have known.

The treatment date isn't always the starting point for your deadline. Arizona uses a discovery rule, and its filing clock stays stopped while the injured patient is a minor. If later care revealed the harm, ask an Arizona lawyer early to help you figure out when your clock started.

This page can't give you legal advice. Once an Arizona lawyer reviews your treatment, they can explain how these filing rules affect the deadline for your claim.

When Arizona's filing clock starts

You'll find the general statute of limitations in Arizona Revised Statutes § 12-542(1). You start counting under Arizona's discovery rule when you know about the injury and that someone's negligence was involved (or reasonably should have known those things).

Discovery is about more than the treatment date

Which dates matter here? Your notes need the treatment date, but also separate entries for when you learned of the injury and when information linked it to negligence. Your filing clock might not start on the day of an appointment.

Recall what you knew. Your first suspicion of malpractice might not be the discovery date, because the rule also asks what you reasonably should have known. A lawyer can use your chart and any explanation of the injury you received later to help figure out the discovery date.

Children have a different starting point

Until the patient turns 18, the filing clock won't run under Arizona Revised Statutes § 12-502. The adult two-year filing period begins when the patient turns 18. Children's earlier, shorter deadline ended when Arizona courts decided Barrio v. San Manuel Division Hospital back in 1984.

The injured child gets this protection for their own claim. That care may give other family members grounds for their own claims, too. If another family member has a claim, ask a lawyer to check its deadline separately rather than using the child's clock.

Arizona does not cap malpractice damages

Laws can't cap damages for death or personal injury because Article 2, § 31 of the Arizona Constitution forbids it. Your Arizona medical malpractice claim has no cap on non-economic damages, either.

You can't count on getting paid. Knowing Arizona doesn't cap damages won't tell you what a particular claim is worth or whether the patient can actually prove the case. Before talking about a possible case value, ask the lawyer to explain the link between the alleged negligence and the harm.

Ask an Arizona lawyer which rules would apply to your claim if you're considering punitive damages or a wrongful death case. You'll still have questions about damages that the Constitution's ban on caps doesn't answer.

What a claim needs before and at filing

You can file an Arizona medical malpractice claim without giving pre-suit notice. You'll still have to certify whether expert testimony is needed for your claim. You'll have to serve a preliminary expert opinion affidavit with your initial disclosures under Arizona Revised Statutes § 12-2603 if your claim needs expert testimony.

The affidavit and the expert's qualifications

Don't confuse the certification with the affidavit you'll need to serve. If your certification says expert testimony is needed, the preliminary affidavit goes with your initial disclosures when you serve them. Ask your lawyer what your claim requires and when you'll need to serve the affidavit.

Arizona Revised Statutes § 12-2604 generally requires a licensed standard-of-care expert who works in the defendant's specialty. You'll also need to check that they've spent most of the prior year actively practicing or teaching in that specialty to qualify. Don't assume someone meets those requirements just because they have a medical background.

Start by discussing the provider's specialty. The proposed expert's title isn't enough; have your lawyer explain how their practice or teaching meets Arizona's requirements.

Shared fault can affect recovery

The rule in Arizona is pure comparative fault. Patients who share fault aren't automatically barred from bringing a claim, but they may recover less. Ask your lawyer what it could mean for your case if the provider argues that something you did contributed to the injury.

Your whole story matters. When you tell the lawyer which instructions you received, point out anything about them that you think is disputed. Your lawyer still needs to assess the facts of your case under Arizona's rule, even though the comparative-fault chart published by Matthiesen, Wickert & Lehrer, S.C. tells you what that rule is.

How a malpractice case usually proceeds

After a consultation, your case may follow this general path toward a possible resolution. That schedule can change. Ask the lawyer what pursuing your claim would take before you decide whether to go ahead.

What you can do now

A short timeline comes first. Before deciding for yourself whether the care was negligent, you can ask a lawyer to review it.

• Write when you first learned of the injury next to the treatment date. Record the date of any explanation linking the injury to possible negligence.
• While you're gathering medical records, tell the lawyer which parts of the chart are still missing.
• If the patient is a child, tell the lawyer right away. Whose possible claims does the lawyer plan to review?
• Have the lawyer check for an outer filing limit while working out your deadline. Talk through the expert affidavit while you're still deciding whether to file.

Tell the lawyer what changed for you after the care. What still doesn't make sense to you? You don't have to decide what those changes mean medically or legally for the lawyer to start with your account.

Questions patients ask about Arizona malpractice claims