Medical malpractice in New York
Last checked Aug 15, 2026 · LawyerUnc editorial. Educational only, not legal advice.
Elements
1
Provider-patient relationship
The defendant undertook to treat the patient.
2
Standard of care
What a reasonably careful similar provider would have done under similar circumstances.
3
Breach
The care fell below that standard.
4
Causation and injury
The breach more likely than not caused a compensable injury, not merely a bad outcome.
Burden of proof
Preponderance of the evidence, usually with expert testimony on the standard of care.
A New York fact pattern
A delayed stroke workup at a Queens hospital. 2.5-year CPLR 214-a clock, continuous-treatment tolling, and a certificate of merit.
Statute of limitations
2.5 years
N.Y. C.P.L.R. 214-a
Two years and six months from the act or omission.
- This is not the three-year injury clock in CPLR 214(5).
- Continuous treatment is treatment for the same illness that gave rise to the act. An exam you booked only to check your condition does not count.
- A foreign object is not a chemical compound, a fixation device, or a prosthetic aid. The discovery window is one year, and the earlier of actual discovery or facts that would lead to it.
- A missed cancer or malignant tumor is Lavern's Law, still inside 214-a, with a seven-year outer limit from the act. A missed heart condition is not that rule.
- A city, county, or their hospital is usually a notice of claim in 90 days and a suit in one year and 90 days (GML 50-e, 50-i), not two years and six months.