“A claim for medical malpractice is a claim for professional negligence, and includes ‘a negligent act or omission to act by a health care provider in the rendering of professional services . . . provided that such services are within the scope of services for which the provider is licensed.’ The elements of a cause of action for professional negligence are failure to use the skill and care that a reasonably careful professional operating in the field would have used in similar circumstances, which failure proximately causes damage to plaintiff.”
“Healthcare providers are obliged ‘to possess and exercise, in both diagnosis and treatment, that reasonable degree of knowledge and skill which is ordinarily possessed and exercised by other members of [the] profession in similar circumstances.'”
“The limitations period is the earlier of: three years from the date of injury, or one year from the date plaintiff discovers or should have discovered the injury. If plaintiff is between the ages of 6 and 17 at the time of the alleged wrongful act, the action must be brought within three years from the date of the wrongful act or three years from the date of injury, whichever is later. The limitations period is three years from the wrongful act or before the minor’s eighth birthday, whichever is later.”
[California Practice Guide: Civil Procedure Before Trail Claims & Defenses [citations to primary sources omitted]]
