Louisiana Medical Malpractice Deadlines: One Year, Three Years, and the Review Panel

In Louisiana, a medical malpractice claim generally must be filed within one year of the negligent act, or within one year of the date you discovered it, and, under the statute, no later than three years after the act itself (La. R.S. 9:5628(A)). A valid request for a medical review panel suspends both periods, but only if the request is filed in the right place and the filing fee is paid on time. This article explains Louisiana law. Mississippi claims follow different rules.

The basic rule: one year, with a three-year outer limit

The deadline comes from La. R.S. 9:5628(A). It covers claims against physicians, nurses, dentists, hospitals, nursing homes, and the other listed providers that arise out of patient care. It applies whether the claim is framed as a tort, a breach of contract, or anything else. The statute sets two limits that work together:

• One year from the date of the act, omission, or neglect, or one year from the date it was discovered.
• Three years from the date of the act, omission, or neglect, at the latest under the statute. This limit applies even when the claim is filed within one year of discovery, although a timely panel request suspends it, as explained below.

The three-year limit is what makes a late discovery so dangerous. Suppose a patient first learns of a surgical error three and a half years after the surgery. Under the statute, that claim generally cannot be brought (La. R.S. 9:5628(A)).

Two more rules surprise families. First, the statute applies to minors and interdicts the same as everyone else (La. R.S. 9:5628(B)). A child’s claim does not wait until the child turns eighteen. Second, the statute reaches covered providers whether or not they have qualified under the Medical Malpractice Act (La. R.S. 9:5628(C)).

Both periods are prescriptive, and a panel request suspends them

Louisiana calls a filing deadline prescription. A stricter kind of deadline, called peremption, generally cannot be interrupted or suspended (La. C.C. art. 3461). The one-year and three-year periods in R.S. 9:5628 are both prescriptive, not peremptive. The Louisiana Supreme Court so held in Hebert v. Doctors Memorial Hospital, 486 So. 2d 717 (La. 1986), and reaffirmed that holding in Borel v. Young, 2007-0419 (La. 7/1/08), 989 So. 2d 42 (on rehearing).

That holding matters because of the medical review panel. Filing a request for review of a claim suspends the time within which suit must be filed (La. R.S. 40:1231.8(A)(2)(a)). The suspension lasts until ninety days after the claimant or the claimant’s attorney is notified, by certified mail, that the panel has issued its opinion (La. R.S. 40:1231.8(A)(2)(a); La. R.S. 40:1231.8(L)). Because both periods are prescriptive, the suspension applies to the three-year limit as well as the one-year limit (Borel).

The suspension is real, but it is not a cushion. It applies only to a valid request, and the clock runs again once the panel process ends.

What makes a panel request count

• Filed with the Division of Administration. A request filed with any other agency or entity does not suspend or interrupt prescription (La. R.S. 40:1231.8(A)(2)(a)). The request is treated as filed on the date it is faxed or electronically sent, the date it is mailed by certified or registered mail, or otherwise the date it is received (La. R.S. 40:1231.8(A)(2)(b)(i)).
• The filing fee is paid on time. As of October 2026, the claimant has forty-five days from receipt of the board’s confirmation to pay a fee of $100 for each named qualified defendant, unless the fee is waived by a qualifying physician affidavit or an in forma pauperis ruling (La. R.S. 40:1231.8(A)(1)(c)–(d)). If the fee is not paid or waived in time, the request is “invalid and without effect” and suspends nothing (La. R.S. 40:1231.8(A)(1)(e)).
• The request is filed before the deadline has run. Suspension pauses a clock that is still running. It does not bring back a claim that has already prescribed (La. C.C. art. 3472; La. R.S. 40:1231.8(B)(2)(b)).

Other ways the panel stage ends

The panel process has its own clocks. An attorney chairman must be appointed within one year from the date the request was filed (La. R.S. 40:1231.8(A)(2)(c)). If no chairman is appointed within that year, the claim is dismissed and the panel is treated as waived. The suspension then ends ninety days after the dismissal (La. R.S. 40:1231.8(A)(2)(c)). If the panel does not render an opinion within twelve months after notice of the chairman’s selection, suit may be filed, and the panel dissolves unless a court has extended the period for good cause (La. R.S. 40:1231.8(B)(1)(b)). After a dissolution, the suspension as to a qualified provider ends ninety days after certified-mail notice of the dissolution (La. R.S. 40:1231.8(B)(3)). The parties may also agree to waive the panel altogether (La. R.S. 40:1231.8(B)(1)(c)).

The panel is a prerequisite only for qualified providers

No suit against a health care provider covered by the Act may be filed in any court until the proposed complaint has been presented to a medical review panel (La. R.S. 40:1231.8(B)(1)(a)(i)). A provider is covered only if it has qualified by meeting the Act’s financial-responsibility and surcharge requirements (La. R.S. 40:1231.2). A provider that has not qualified does not get the panel, and the claim against it is brought in court.

Non-qualified providers still carry deadline traps:

• The one-year and three-year periods of R.S. 9:5628 apply to them too (La. R.S. 9:5628(C)).
• If a panel request names a provider that the board later finds is not qualified, the suspension as to that provider lasts until ninety days after the board’s certified-mail notice that it is not covered (La. R.S. 40:1231.8(A)(2)(a)).
• A valid request suspends prescription against all joint tortfeasors and solidary obligors, qualified or not, to the same extent as against the providers named in it (La. R.S. 40:1231.8(A)(2)(a)).

Claims against state hospitals and other state health care providers follow a parallel statute with its own panel procedure (La. R.S. 40:1237.1 et seq.). Whether each provider is qualified, private, or state is a fact to confirm early, not to assume.

Why waiting is dangerous

Every rule above rewards early action and punishes delay. The one-year discovery period can begin when you had enough information to suspect a problem, which may be before a doctor confirms it (see La. R.S. 9:5628(A)). The three-year limit can close the door before you learn anything at all. The panel request has a filing location, a fee deadline, and a ninety-day window after the opinion, and missing any one of them can end the claim.

Gathering medical records and having them reviewed also takes time. The safest course is to treat the earliest date that could possibly apply as the real deadline, and to have the claim reviewed well before it.

For more on the panel and the damages cap, see Louisiana Medical Malpractice: The Medical Review Panel and the Damages Cap, or read about the firm’s medical malpractice practice.

To talk about your situation, call (985) 612-7220 or start a confidential intake.