Early Discharge After Crash Surgery and the Malpractice Clock

Attorney Answer

You may have two separate claims here — one against whoever caused the motorcycle crash, and one against the hospital — but both run on short clocks, and with a crash this far back the first thing any lawyer will check is whether the time has already passed. That question has to be answered before anything else, because a claim filed late is barred no matter how strong the underlying facts are.

The ordinary personal-injury period is set by Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1: "Within two years: An action for assault, battery, or injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another." A claim against a hospital or a doctor for negligent care runs on a different and in some ways tighter rule. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 340.5 gives three years from the date of injury, or one year from the date the patient discovered, or with reasonable diligence should have discovered, the injury — whichever comes first. That one-year discovery branch is the trap: it can end a malpractice claim well before the three years are up, counted from when you first had reason to connect the leg problems to the discharge rather than to the crash itself.

The two claims are related in a way that helps you. In Henry v. Superior Court, 160 Cal. App. 4th 440 (2008), the Court of Appeal applied the settled California principle that a person who negligently causes an injury remains answerable for the additional harm caused by negligent medical treatment of that injury; the older statement of the same rule is Ash v. Mortensen, 24 Cal. 2d 654 (1944). So if the early discharge made your leg worse, that added harm can be part of the claim against whoever caused the crash — but this principle does not extend either deadline.

Your allegation that the discharge paperwork was falsified is serious. The consequences of altered records are a question for a lawyer who can look at the chart.

What you can do

1. Request your complete medical records from the hospital, including the operative report and the discharge paperwork you believe is wrong. Patients can request their own records, and it costs little.

2. Get the records from whoever has treated the leg since, because those documents usually show when the lasting problem was first identified.

3. Take the dates to a local attorney now — the crash date, the surgery date, the discharge date, and the date you first learned the leg problem was connected to the discharge. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 340.5 turns on exactly those.

4. Ask that attorney about a claim against whoever caused the crash as well as the hospital, and about how the two fit together.

5. Do not sign anything from the hospital, a health plan or an insurer that releases claims until a lawyer has read it.

Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts with someone who practices in your area is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 340.5 governs a claim against a health care provider — three years from injury or one year from discovery, whichever is first — and Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1 governs the two-year claim against whoever caused the crash. Which date starts each clock depends on facts a page cannot see, and this is the kind of case where days matter. Have a local attorney review the actual dates immediately rather than assuming either way.