Postponing Accident Surgery During Treatment for Another Illness

Attorney Answer

A medically sound reason to postpone surgery is not the same thing as neglecting your claim — but the reason has to be in your medical records, because an insurer that sees a gap in treatment and no explanation will treat the gap as evidence the shoulder was never that bad.

Start with what the other driver is responsible for. Cal. Civ. Code § 1714(a) makes a person responsible for an injury occasioned to another by their want of ordinary care, and Cal. Civ. Code § 3333 measures the damages: the amount that will compensate for all the detriment proximately caused, whether or not it could have been anticipated. Two things follow. The cancer is not the at-fault driver's responsibility, and it does not reduce theirs — the shoulder injury is measured by what the crash caused, not by what else is happening in your life. What the cancer does change is proof. When a claimant has a second, serious condition being treated at the same time, the records have to make clear which costs, which limitations and which lost time belong to the crash.

On the delay itself, the general principle is that someone claiming damages is expected to act reasonably about their own treatment, and what counts as reasonable is judged against medical advice, not against what an adjuster would prefer. Deferring an elective shoulder repair while you begin cancer treatment is the kind of decision doctors make routinely. The risk is not the decision — it is an unexplained decision. Get it written down.

There is also a deadline problem that a long treatment pause creates, and it is the one that ends claims. The legal clock does not wait for surgery. Under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1 a personal-injury claim generally has two years, measured from the crash rather than from the end of your treatment.

And do not solve the timing problem by settling early. Cal. Civ. Code § 1541 provides that an obligation is extinguished by a release therefrom given to the debtor or the released party by the creditor or releasing party, upon a new consideration, or in writing, with or without new consideration. A release signed before the shoulder is repaired generally ends the claim for the surgery too.

One protection worth knowing: under Cal. Code Regs. tit. 10, § 2695.7(f), an insurer that intends to rely on a time limit to deny a claim generally has to give the claimant written notice at least sixty days before the expiration date — though that subsection does not apply to a claimant represented by counsel.

What you can do

1. Ask your treating doctors to put in writing that the shoulder surgery is being deferred, why, and when they plan to reassess it.

2. Keep seeing the doctors treating the shoulder while surgery is on hold. Documented conservative care fills the gap that would otherwise look like recovery.

3. Keep the oncology records and the orthopedic records complete and separate, so it stays clear which costs came from the crash.

4. Keep your bills, mileage and a note of the work and activities you have lost because of the shoulder specifically.

5. Ask a local attorney before giving a recorded statement, signing a broad medical authorization, or accepting any settlement while the surgery is still pending.

6. Ask a local attorney now to identify the deadline that governs your claim, so treatment decisions get made with that date already known.

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

⏱ Time limits apply. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1 gives two years for an action for injury to an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another, and that period ordinarily runs from the crash, not from the day treatment finishes. Your exact date, and whether anything about your circumstances affects it, depend on facts this page does not have. Have a local attorney fix the date now, while there is still room to plan around it.