Time limits for medical negligence claims

The general rule: two years

Medical negligence claims are personal injuries actions. Under the Statute of Limitations as amended, the general time limit for starting one is two years.

When the two years starts

The two years runs from whichever is later of:

• the date of the treatment or event itself; or
• the "date of knowledge": the date on which you first knew, or ought reasonably to have known, that you had been injured, that the injury was significant, and that it was attributable to the treatment.

This matters because harm from medical treatment is often not obvious at the time. A missed diagnosis may only become clear months or years later. The date of knowledge rule exists for exactly that situation, but it is assessed on the facts, and what someone "ought reasonably" to have known can be disputed.

Children

For a person who was under 18 at the time, time generally does not begin to run until their eighteenth birthday. A parent or guardian can bring a claim on a child's behalf before then.

People who lack capacity

Where a person lacks the mental capacity to manage their own affairs, different rules apply and time may not run while that continues.

Claims following a death

Where a person has died, a claim by their family may be possible, and specific time limits apply to it.

What starts the claim

Personal injuries claims in Ireland typically involve an application to the Injuries Resolution Board before court proceedings, but many medical negligence claims are authorised to go directly to court. How the time limit interacts with these steps depends on the case.

If you're unsure

If you don't know when time started for you, that is common, and it is one of the first things a solicitor will look at. The assessment asks when you first realised something had gone wrong, and "I'm not sure" is an acceptable answer.