Often yes, even after three, seven or ten years, because in Victoria the three-year limit runs from when you knew enough to bring a claim, not from the date of the treatment.
Section 27D of the Limitation of Actions Act 1958 (Vic) gives an adult whichever of two periods ends first: three years from the date the claim became discoverable, or twelve years from the act or omission that caused the injury. A claim becomes discoverable once you knew, or ought to have known, that you were injured, that someone's fault caused it, and that it was serious enough to justify a claim.
After twelve years the long-stop has usually passed, but that is not always the end. A court can extend time under s 27K where it is just and reasonable, and the Supreme Court of Victoria has done so twenty-six years after a birth. Different rules apply to children and to people who lacked capacity. None of this is automatic, so have your dates checked.
| When it happened | What the Act looks at | What that means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Three to twelve years ago, and you are an adult | Three years from the date the claim became discoverable by you (s 27D(1)(a), s 27F) | If you only recently learned that the care was at fault, you may still be in time |
| More than twelve years ago | The twelve-year long-stop from the act or omission has usually run, whatever you knew (s 27D(1)(b)) | The claim generally needs a court to extend time under s 27K. That is possible, not assured |
| Twenty years or more ago | The same, and if the treatment was before 21 May 2003 the transitional rules in s 27N also apply | An extension can still be sought (s 27N(5)). Lost records and witnesses become the main difficulty |
| You were a child at the time | Six years from discoverability or twelve years from the act or omission, whichever ends first (s 27E). A capable parent's knowledge counts as the child's (s 27J(3)) | Time is not simply paused until eighteen. The long-stop can pass while the child is still young |
| You could not manage your own affairs | Section 27E if that was so at the time of the treatment. Incapacity lasting 28 days or more can suspend time unless a guardian could sue for you (s 27J) | Fact-specific, and generally a longer period than the ordinary rule |
| Your family member died | For a dependants' claim under Part III of the Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic), the long-stop runs from the date of death (s 27H) | The relevant date may be the death, not the treatment that preceded it |
Section references are to the Limitation of Actions Act 1958 (Vic), authorised version 112, incorporating amendments as at 25 February 2026, checked on 24 September 2026. How the Act applies to a particular set of dates is fact-specific.
This page deals with one situation: a lot of time has passed and you want to know whether it is too late. Time limits for medical negligence claims sets out the general rules. If a law firm has already declined your claim, whether a rejected claim affects your time limit covers what the clock does while a firm is deciding and after it says no.
Why does three years not mean three years from the treatment?
Because the Act counts from discoverability. Section 27F says a claim is discoverable on the first date you knew, or ought to have known, all three of these facts:
- that the injury had occurred;
- that it was caused by the fault of the person you would be suing; and
- that it was serious enough to justify bringing a claim.
All three are needed. Many people know for years that something went badly without knowing that anyone was at fault. A poor result after surgery, or a cancer found late, is not by itself knowledge that the care fell below the standard expected. That is why a claim about treatment ten years ago can still be inside the three-year period.
Two further parts of s 27F cut the other way. You are treated as knowing a fact if you would have found it out by taking all reasonable steps to do so. And a court may look at what you said and did at the time, orally or in writing, to work out what you knew. A complaint letter, a note in your records or a conversation with a lawyer can all become evidence of when your knowledge began.
Can you still claim after 3, 5 or 7 years?
You may be able to. The question is not how long ago the treatment was, but when you first knew, or ought to have known, all three facts above.
A common pattern is an injury you accepted at the time as bad luck, followed years later by another doctor saying it should have been prevented or picked up earlier. The three years may start from that later point. It may not, if the court finds you had enough reason to ask questions earlier and did not. The Victorian Court of Appeal upheld a finding in Waldron v O'Callaghan [2024] VSCA 196 that a claim about treatment given up to 2012 was not discoverable until 2020, when a medico-legal opinion identified fault. The rejected-claim guide explains that case in more detail.
The date is a contested question of fact. Neither you nor the other side sets it. A court decides it on the evidence of what you were told and when.
What changes after 12 years?
The long-stop. Section 27D(1)(b) bars an ordinary claim twelve years after the act or omission alleged to have caused the injury, and the Act defines the long-stop in the same terms in s 27A. It runs whatever you knew. You may have had no way of finding out, and the long-stop still runs.
Because it is measured from the act or omission itself, the exact date matters. Where treatment ran over months or years, the long-stop is counted from the particular act or omission you say caused the harm, not from your first appointment. Identifying that accurately is part of what an assessment does.
Passing the long-stop does not end every claim. It means the claim cannot go ahead unless a court agrees to extend time.
Can you claim medical negligence after 20 years?
It is possible, but only with an extension from a court, and it is never assured.
Section 27K lets a person apply to a court to extend a limitation period, and the court may do so if it decides that is just and reasonable. Section 27M says the power can be used even though the period has already expired. So a claim does not become impossible on the day the long-stop passes.
Goodridge & Anor v Baker [2023] VSC 331 shows how far this can go. The claim concerned antenatal care and a birth on 27 July 1996. It was filed in February 2022, about twenty-six years later, and on 16 June 2023 the Supreme Court of Victoria extended time under s 27K.
If the treatment happened before 21 May 2003, s 27N adds a further step. The current rules apply to those older claims, but they cannot give a longer period than the law in force before 2003 would have allowed. Section 27N(5) keeps the court's power to extend time open for them. Which rules govern a claim that old is a technical question worth having checked early.
An extension means a separate application, supported by sworn evidence explaining the delay, which the other side can oppose. That adds cost and uncertainty to a claim that is already harder to prove, because records and memories fade over twenty years. What it costs to investigate a claim explains the ordinary expense of finding out.
What does a court weigh when asked to extend time?
Section 27L tells the court to consider all the circumstances, including:
- how long the delay was, and the reasons for it;
- whether the delay has caused, or is likely to cause, prejudice to the defendant;
- whether the defendant helped or hindered you in finding out the relevant facts;
- any disability or legal incapacity you had after the claim became discoverable;
- how quickly the claim became discoverable;
- whether you acted promptly and reasonably once you knew you might have a claim; and
- what medical, legal or other expert advice you sought, and what you were told.
The section also names three matters directly: whether the passage of time has prejudiced a fair trial, the nature and extent of your loss, and the nature of the defendant's conduct.
Two of these are within your control now. How promptly you act once you suspect a claim is one. The advice you seek, and what you do with it, is the other. If years have already passed, the time from now on still counts.
What if you were a child when it happened?
Different rules apply, and they are less generous than many people expect. The Act treats a minor as a person under a disability (s 3(2)). For an injury to someone who was under a disability when it happened, s 27E sets the period at six years from discoverability or twelve years from the act or omission, whichever ends first.
Time is not simply paused until the child turns eighteen. Under s 27J, a minor is under a legal incapacity, which suspends the running of time, only while not in the custody of a capable parent or guardian. While a child is in a parent's care, what the parent knew or ought to have known is treated as what the child knew (s 27J(3)).
The result is that the twelve-year long-stop can pass while the child is still at primary school. That is why birth injury claims so often need an extension, as in Goodridge. Birth injury claims covers the kinds of harm involved.
What if you could not manage your own affairs at the time?
The Act treats a person of unsound mind as under a disability (s 3(2)), and a person who is a represented person under the Guardianship and Administration Act 2019 (Vic) is conclusively presumed to be of unsound mind (s 3(3)). If that was your position when the treatment happened, s 27E applies instead of the ordinary rule.
Section 27J also suspends time while a person is unable, or substantially impeded, in managing their affairs about the claim because of disease or impairment, for a continuous period of 28 days or more. It does not suspend time while a guardian authorised by law to bring actions in the person's name is in place. An injury that itself left you unable to manage your affairs may therefore change how the periods run. Whether it did is a question of evidence.
What if the person who was harmed has since died?
A family member who depended on the person may have a claim under Part III of the Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic). For that claim, the Act says the long-stop runs from the date of death (s 27H), and the claim is not discoverable before the death (s 27F(4)). Where the death came years after the treatment, the date that matters may be the later one. A claim the person could have brought themselves, continued by the estate, follows separate rules in s 27G.
What should you do if years have already passed?
Treat the question as open rather than closed, and move from here.
- Write down the dates: the treatment, when symptoms appeared, and when anyone first suggested that something may have gone wrong. Discoverability turns on these.
- Keep anything that shows what you knew and when, such as letters, complaint correspondence and notes of conversations.
- Request your records now. Providers do not keep them forever. How to get your medical records in Victoria explains how, from whom, and how long records are kept.
- Do not assume a claim is out of time because the treatment was long ago, and do not assume it is in time because you only just found out. Both assumptions are common and either can be wrong.
Get your dates checked
You do not need to work out which period applies to you. That is part of what an assessment is for, and it is often the first question answered.
Our technology does the organising work of assembling records into a chronology. Our lawyers read the evidence and make every legal decision. Any AI-assisted assessment is preliminary and is signed off by one of our lawyers.
If it has been years, start a free assessment and tell us the dates you know. There is no obligation. You will be told plainly whether time is a concern, and what to request if you do not yet have your records.
Common questions
Can you claim medical negligence after 3 years in Victoria?
Often yes. The three-year period in section 27D of the Limitation of Actions Act 1958 (Vic) runs from the date the claim became discoverable, not from the date of the treatment. A claim is discoverable once you knew, or ought to have known, that you were injured, that someone's fault caused it, and that it was serious enough to justify a claim. If you only recently learned that the care was at fault, you may still be in time.
Can you claim medical negligence after 12 years in Victoria?
Only if a court extends time. Section 27D bars an ordinary claim twelve years after the act or omission that caused the injury, whatever you knew. Section 27K lets a court extend that period where it is just and reasonable, and section 27M allows this even after the period has expired. An extension is a discretionary decision made on evidence, not an entitlement.
Can you claim for medical negligence after 20 years?
It is possible, but it needs an extension from a court. In Goodridge & Anor v Baker [2023] VSC 331 the Supreme Court of Victoria extended time for a claim filed about twenty-six years after a birth. The court weighs the length of and reasons for the delay, prejudice to the defendant, whether a fair trial is still possible and how promptly the claimant acted, among other matters listed in section 27L.
Do time limits run differently if you were a child?
Yes, but time is not simply paused until you turn eighteen. For someone who was a minor when injured, section 27E sets six years from discoverability or twelve years from the act or omission, whichever ends first. While a child is in the care of a capable parent, the parent's knowledge is treated as the child's, so the long-stop can pass during childhood and an extension may be needed.
Sources
- Limitation of Actions Act 1958 (Vic) — authorised version 112, incorporating amendments as at 25 February 2026: s 3(2) and (3), and Part IIA, ss 27A, 27D to 27H, 27J, 27K, 27L, 27M and 27N.
- Goodridge & Anor v Baker [2023] VSC 331 — Supreme Court of Victoria, 16 June 2023. Extension of time granted under s 27K.
- Waldron v O'Callaghan [2024] VSCA 196 — Court of Appeal, 10 September 2024. Finding on the date of discoverability left in place.
- Wrongs Act 1958 (Vic) — Part III, claims by dependants after a death.