An overview of Washington’s rules governing medical negligence claims, including the deadlines for filing a lawsuit and when those deadlines may be extended.
If you believe that you were harmed because of medical negligence, you might be thinking of suing the doctor or other health care provider who was responsible for your injury. While you’ll almost certainly need to hire a medical malpractice attorney who will handle the details, a basic understanding of the process will help you avoid significant pitfalls—such as missing the deadline for filing a lawsuit.
Compared to many other states, the medical malpractice laws in Washington state are relatively friendly to plaintiffs (the patients who sue medical providers). In this article, we’ll give you an overview of the most important rules in Washington that could have an impact on how your case proceeds and how much your lawyer may charge. (You can find full text of the laws and rules discussed here at the Washington State Legislature’s Laws and Agency Rules page.)
In This Article
- Washington’s Statute of Limitations for Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
- When the Medical Malpractice Statute of Limitations is Extended
- Mandatory Mediation for Medical Malpractice in Washington
- Do You Need an Expert Witness in Washington Medical Malpractice Cases?
- No Damage Caps in Washington Medical Malpractice Cases
- What Happens in Cases of Shared Fault for Medical Malpractice Injuries?
- Judicial Review of Attorneys’ Fees in Medical Malpractice Cases
Washington’s Statute of Limitations for Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
A statute of limitations is a law that sets a deadline for filing a lawsuit. If you miss the deadline and file too late, your case will almost certainly be thrown out of court.
Like most states, Washington has a statute of limitations specifically for medical malpractice cases. Generally, these lawsuits must be filed by one of two dates, whichever is later:
- three years after the alleged medical error that caused your injury, or
- one year after you discovered (or should reasonably have discovered) that the error caused your injury or medical condition.
If the injured patient was a minor (younger than 18), the discovery date will be when the minor’s parent or guardian learned about the malpractice.
Washington used to have an outside time limit (known as a “statute of repose”) of eight years after the malpractice happened, regardless of when you discovered it or should have done so. In Bennett v. United States, 539 P.3d 361 (Wash. 2023), the Washington Supreme Court ruled that this statute of repose violated Washington's state constitution. Even though the statute still can be found in Washington's statutory code, it's no longer enforceable.
When the Medical Malpractice Statute of Limitations is Extended
Some circumstances will temporarily stop the running of the “clock” for purposes of Washington’s statute of limitations in medical malpractice cases:
- When a medical provider commits fraud or intentionally conceals the medical negligence, or when that negligence involves leaving a foreign object in your body, you have one year to file a lawsuit after discovering the fraud, concealment, or presence of the foreign object. (Wash. Rev. Code § 4.16.350(3) (2024).)
- The statute of limitations is also tolled while a plaintiff is so disabled that they can’t understand the nature of the medical malpractice proceeding, is younger than 18 years old, or is imprisoned prior to sentencing. (Wash. Rev. Code § 4.16.190 (2024).)
- A written, good-faith request for mediation of a dispute over potential medical malpractice made before a malpractice lawsuit is filed will toll the statute of limitations for one year. (Wash. Rev. Code. § 7.70.110 (2024).) (See below for the rules on mandatory mediation after a lawsuit is filed.)
Mandatory Mediation for Medical Malpractice in Washington
Before you can go to trial in a medical malpractice lawsuit, Washington law requires that you and the defendant(s) (the healthcare provider(s) you are suing) go through a mediation process, unless:
- you already had an agreement with the medical provider to submit any malpractice claims to mandatory arbitration, or
- the judge or the mediator decides that mediation wouldn’t be appropriate in your case.
Your lawyer will represent you at the mediation conference, but you will almost always have to attend as well. Anything said during mediation will be confidential. Unless you reach a settlement agreement (and sign it), nothing that happens during mediation will be legally binding on you or the defendant medical provider(s), and you will still have the right to go to trial. (Wash. Rev. Code §§ 7.70.100, 7.70.120 (2024); Wash. Superior Ct. Civil Rules, rule 53.4 (2022).)
Do You Need an Expert Witness in Washington Medical Malpractice Cases?
Many states try to prevent frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits by requiring plaintiffs to file, along with the initial complaint, an affidavit or certificate with a medical expert’s opinion that the case has merit. Washington still has a law like this on the books, but the state’s supreme court ruled in 2009 that the statute was unconstitutional, because it required plaintiffs to submit evidence before they could go through the “discovery” process, when both sides have the opportunity to obtain evidence from each other. By doing so, the law hindered plaintiffs’ right of access to the courts. (Putman v. Wenatchee Valley Medical Center, P.S., 216 P.3d 374 (Wash. 2009).)
Just because you won’t need to hire a medical expert before you can even file a medical malpractice suit in Washington, that doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t need one to win your case. In order to prove that the defendant committed medical malpractice, you must prove that the health care provider negligently failed to meet the proper medical standard of care, and that you were harmed as a result of that negligence.
Washington courts have found that expert testimony is usually necessary to prove negligence in medical malpractice cases, except in the relatively rare cases where a reasonable layperson could observe and describe the facts without medical training. An example of such an obvious malpractice case would be when a foreign object (like a scalpel blade) is left in a patient’s body after surgery.
No Damage Caps in Washington Medical Malpractice Cases
Unlike many states, Washington has no limits on the amount of damages that plaintiffs can receive in medical malpractice cases, including noneconomic damages like pain and suffering. That means that if you win your case, you can collect whatever amount of money the jury awards you for your losses (unless the judge or a higher court reduces the award).
In This Article
- Washington’s Statute of Limitations for Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
- When the Medical Malpractice Statute of Limitations is Extended
- Mandatory Mediation for Medical Malpractice in Washington
- Do You Need an Expert Witness in Washington Medical Malpractice Cases?
- No Damage Caps in Washington Medical Malpractice Cases
- What Happens in Cases of Shared Fault for Medical Malpractice Injuries?
- Judicial Review of Attorneys’ Fees in Medical Malpractice Cases