How long do I have to file a medical malpractice claim in Pennsylvania?

Last updated October 4, 2026.

Generally two years. A Pennsylvania medical malpractice lawsuit is an action for injury caused by negligence, which must be filed within two years under 42 Pa.C.S. 5524. The MCARE Act also set a seven-year outside limit, measured from the treatment itself, but the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that limit unconstitutional in Yanakos v. UPMC (2019). Separate rules apply to children, to deaths and to the certificate of merit that must follow the complaint.

Malpractice cases take longer to prepare than most injury claims, because records must be gathered and reviewed by a doctor before suit. Our approach is described on our medical malpractice page.

Which deadlines apply to a malpractice claim?

What did the Yanakos ruling change?

Section 513(a) of the MCARE Act of 2002 says that "no cause of action asserting a medical professional liability claim may be commenced after seven years from the date of the alleged tort." That is a statute of repose. As a Supreme Court justice explained in the case, a statute of limitations runs only after a claim has accrued, while a repose period runs from the defendant's last act "regardless of when the injury occurred or was discovered."

The Yanakos family alleged that a liver donation surgery should never have happened, and said they did not discover the error until about eleven years later. The trial court dismissed the case under the seven-year rule. On October 31, 2019, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed, holding that the seven-year repose period violates the right to a remedy in Article I, Section 11 of the Pennsylvania Constitution. The lead opinion found the repose period was not substantially related to an important government interest; a concurring justice agreed with the result, "namely that the MCARE Act's statute of repose is unconstitutional." The Court later denied reargument.

What this means in practice: a patient whose injury from care surfaces many years later is no longer barred by an automatic seven-year cutoff. The two-year statute of limitations still applies, and when the claim accrued becomes the central question. The ruling did not create an open-ended deadline.

How does a malpractice claim move toward filing, step by step?

1. Request the records. Every hospital, practice and pharmacy involved has part of the story. Entries are supposed to be made contemporaneously, and later corrections must be dated as later entries (40 P.S. 1303.511(a) and (b)).
2. Have a qualified physician review the care. A lawsuit against a licensed professional needs a certificate of merit based on a written statement from an appropriate licensed professional (Pa.R.C.P. 1042.3). Our page on what a malpractice case needs explains that requirement.
3. Identify every provider. Each licensed professional sued needs a separate certificate (Rule 1042.3(b)). A provider wrongly named can file an affidavit of noninvolvement, which tolls the statute of limitations as to that provider back to the original filing (1303.506(b)).
4. Choose where to file. Since January 1, 2023, malpractice cases follow the same venue rules as other cases against individuals and entities; the special malpractice venue rule was rescinded (Pa.R.C.P. 1006, comment).
5. File the complaint before the deadline. In Delaware County, civil cases are filed with the Civil Division of the Office of Judicial Support in Media, according to the county.
6. File the certificate of merit. With the complaint or within 60 days after it, unless the court extends the time for good cause (Rule 1042.3(a) and (d)).

Why does preparation take so long?

A malpractice case cannot be filed and investigated later the way some accident cases can. The certificate of merit rule means a qualified professional must already have reviewed the care and given a written statement within 60 days of the complaint, and MCARE sets detailed qualifications for the experts who will testify about the standard of care, including an unrestricted physician's license and active clinical practice or teaching within the previous five years (40 P.S. 1303.512(b)).

In practice, the work before filing usually includes:

• collecting records from every provider, which can take weeks for each request;
• organizing them into a timeline that shows what was known at each visit;
• finding a reviewing physician in the same or a similar specialty as the doctor whose care is questioned (1303.512(c));
• identifying every responsible professional and entity, since each needs its own certificate; and
• assessing the damages, which in serious cases often requires input from treating doctors and other professionals.

Families dealing with a life-changing injury face this work at the hardest time; our catastrophic injuries page describes how those cases are built. Starting early is the single most useful thing a patient can do to protect the two-year deadline.

What changes the answer?

• When the injury was knowable. The two years run from when the claim accrued (42 Pa.C.S. 5502(a)). In malpractice cases the harm is often hidden, so the accrual date is frequently disputed. Treat the earliest possible date as the deadline.
• A child patient. A minor's years before 18 are not counted (42 Pa.C.S. 5533(b)), and MCARE section 513(c) refers to age 20. Our page on birth injuries covers the most common child cases.
• A death. Wrongful death and survival claims must be filed within two years after the death unless the cause of death was misrepresented or concealed (1303.513(d)). Who files is explained in wrongful death and survival actions.
• A retained object. A sponge or instrument left in the body was always outside the seven-year limit (1303.513(b)); the two-year rule still matters. Our surgical errors page lists other surgical mistakes.
• A public hospital or clinic. Care by Commonwealth facilities is an exception to sovereign immunity (42 Pa.C.S. 8522(b)(2)), but the six-month written notice in 5522 applies; see injury lawsuit deadlines.
• A lack of informed consent. Claims that a doctor did not explain the risks of surgery and similar procedures are professional liability claims too, with the same certificate requirement (Rule 1042.1(b); 1303.504).

For example: a missed diagnosis found years later

Here is a hypothetical. In 2017 a woman from Springfield has a skin biopsy that a pathology group reads as benign. In 2025 a new doctor reviews the old slides after a cancer diagnosis and says the 2017 reading was wrong.

Before Yanakos, the seven-year repose period in section 513(a) would have been raised as an absolute bar, since more than seven years passed after 2017. After Yanakos, that cutoff is gone, and the question becomes whether the claim accrued within two years before suit is filed. The defense will argue she should have known earlier; she will point to when she actually learned the reading was wrong and why she could not have learned it sooner. A lawyer reviewing this case would treat the 2025 review date as the latest possible start of the two years and move to file well before it.

The records from 2017 matter too. If a patient proves records were intentionally altered or destroyed, MCARE section 511(c) lets the court instruct the jury to consider an adverse inference, which is one more reason to request the full chart, including pathology slides and audit information, early. This example only illustrates how the rules work; it does not predict any result.

What mistakes do patients and families make?

• Waiting until treatment ends. The deadline does not wait for recovery, and preparing a malpractice case takes months.
• Assuming the seven-year rule still applies. It was struck down in 2019; but the two-year rule was not.
• Assuming there is no deadline because of Yanakos. There is; the fight simply moves to when the claim accrued.
• Requesting only part of the chart. Get records from every provider involved, including imaging, pathology and nursing notes.
• Filing without a doctor's review. The certificate of merit must rest on a qualified professional's written statement within 60 days.
• Overlooking a public facility. A six-month notice may be due long before the two-year date.

What should I do this week?

1. Write a timeline: each visit, test, procedure and result, with dates.
2. List every doctor, hospital, practice and pharmacy involved.
3. Request complete copies of your records from each of them in writing.
4. Write down when, and how, you first learned something had gone wrong.
5. Find out whether any provider is a state or local government facility.
6. If a family member died, order death certificates and locate any will.
7. Book a consultation; malpractice deadlines leave little room for delay.

Frequently asked questions

Is the deadline different for a hospital and a doctor?

No. The same two-year limitation applies. Each licensed professional sued needs a separate certificate of merit, and a claim that a hospital is responsible for its staff needs one too (Rule 1042.3(a)(2) and (b)). Defendants can also argue the patient shared the blame, which Pennsylvania handles under its comparative negligence rule.

What if a doctor hid the mistake?

For deaths, MCARE's two-year rule after death does not apply in the same way where there was affirmative misrepresentation or fraudulent concealment of the cause of death (1303.513(d)). For injuries, concealment bears on when the claim accrued. Both call for prompt advice.

Does the Yanakos ruling apply to my case?

It struck the seven-year repose period in 1303.513(a). Whether any other limit applies depends on the facts, the patient's age and whether the patient died, which is why each case needs its own deadline review.

Can damages be capped if I file late?

A late case is usually dismissed, not reduced. How damages work in a timely case is explained in whether malpractice damages are capped in Pennsylvania.

Where would my case be filed?

Under the general venue rules, usually where the care happened or where a defendant can be served (Pa.R.C.P. 1006). For Delaware County, our Delaware County overview explains the courts in Media.

I live in Delaware County but was treated in Philadelphia. Where is the case filed?

Since the special malpractice venue rule was rescinded effective January 1, 2023, the general rules apply, so a case can be brought in a county where a defendant can be served or where the care took place (Pa.R.C.P. 1006(a) and (c)). Which county is better is a strategic question to discuss before filing.

Do I need a lawyer to get my records?

No. Patients can request their own records. A lawyer usually requests them as well, so the full set, including billing and audit information, is collected for the doctor's review.

Call Giribaldi Law at (610) 891-8303 or contact us online for a free consultation about a possible malpractice claim. Evening and weekend appointments are available.