Medical Malpractice › NYC Boroughs
New York’s medical malpractice rules are statewide, but how a claim actually proceeds depends on where the care happened. The hospital that treated you determines your first deadline, and the borough determines where the case is filed. These pages cover both, borough by borough.
Three of the borough’s busiest hospitals are run by NYC Health + Hospitals, so a large share of Bronx claims are municipal claims with a much shorter first deadline than most people expect. Cases are typically filed in Bronx County Supreme Court. NYC Health + Hospitals facilities in the borough: Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center, Jacobi Medical Center, North Central Bronx Hospital.
Brooklyn has the widest mix of public and private hospitals of any borough, and the deadline that applies to your claim depends entirely on which one treated you. Cases are typically filed in Kings County Supreme Court. NYC Health + Hospitals facilities in the borough: Kings County Hospital Center, Woodhull Medical Center, Coney Island Hospital.
Manhattan concentrates the city’s specialty and referral hospitals. Many claims here turn on what a specialist was told by a referring physician and what was done with that information. Cases are typically filed in New York County Supreme Court. NYC Health + Hospitals facilities in the borough: Bellevue Hospital Center, Harlem Hospital Center, Metropolitan Hospital Center.
Queens is served heavily by two NYC Health + Hospitals facilities, which means the 90 day notice requirement applies to a large share of claims arising in the borough. Cases are typically filed in Queens County Supreme Court. NYC Health + Hospitals facilities in the borough: Elmhurst Hospital Center, Queens Hospital Center.
What does not change is the standard. Every claim in New York has to establish the accepted standard of care, a departure from it, and a causal link between that departure and the injury. That is true in every borough and it is why these cases are built on expert medical review rather than on the outcome alone.
What does change is timing and venue. The single most consequential fact in a New York City claim is usually whether the treating hospital was public or private. A NYC Health + Hospitals facility brings a 90 day notice of claim requirement that has no equivalent in a claim against a private hospital, and that deadline arrives long before most patients have finished getting answers about what went wrong.
New York gives most medical malpractice claimants two years and six months from the date of the negligent act, or from the end of continuous treatment for the same condition, under CPLR 214-a. That is shorter than the three year deadline that applies to ordinary personal injury claims in New York, and the difference catches people out.
Several rules change that date:
Because these rules interact, the safest assumption is that your deadline is sooner than you think. A short conversation is usually enough to identify which one governs your situation.
If you believe you or a family member were harmed by medical care, the first step is a conversation about the timeline. Call (212) 344-1000 for a free case review. There is no fee unless we recover for you.
