Michigan Medical Malpractice Law: Notice of Intent, Affidavit of Merit, Deadlines and Damage Caps

If you think a doctor, nurse or hospital in Michigan made a mistake that hurt you or someone you love, you may have a claim, but Michigan requires several steps, in order, before a court will hear it. You generally have two years from the mistake to sue, or six months from when you discovered it, or should have, if that’s later. Each provider generally must get a written notice of intent at least 182 days before you file, and the lawsuit must come with an affidavit of merit from a qualified health professional. For 2026, noneconomic damages, such as pain and suffering, are capped at $596,400, or $1,065,000 for certain permanent injuries (MCL 600.5805(8), 600.5838a, 600.2912b, 600.2912d, 600.1483).

Here is each step, as of September 2026.

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Does Michigan’s malpractice process apply to your claim?

These steps apply to medical malpractice claims against health professionals and facilities: claims that care fell below the accepted standard and caused an injury (MCL 600.2912b(1)). Michigan’s malpractice deadline covers licensed health care professionals, such as doctors and nurses; licensed facilities, such as hospitals and nursing homes; and facility employees and agents involved in medical care (MCL 600.5838a(1); 333.20106). The claim can be about a missed diagnosis, a surgical error or a medication error.

Not every injury in a hospital or nursing home is malpractice. The Michigan Supreme Court asks whether the claim arose within a professional relationship, and whether it raises questions of medical judgment beyond common knowledge and experience. If both answers are yes, the malpractice rules apply (Bryant v Oakpointe Villa Nursing Centre, 2004). Otherwise the claim is usually ordinary negligence, with a three-year deadline and none of these steps (MCL 600.5805(2)). The line can be hard to draw, especially in nursing home cases, so plan around the shorter malpractice timeline until a lawyer tells you otherwise.

Care from a VA health care employee, or from some federally funded community health centers, is different: the claim is generally against the United States and starts with a written claim to the agency within two years (38 U.S.C. § 7316(a); 42 U.S.C. § 233(g); 28 U.S.C. § 2401(b)).

Not sure it was malpractice? Try this self-check.

What are the steps in a Michigan malpractice case, in order?

What is a notice of intent, and what must it say?

A notice of intent is a written warning to each doctor or facility you plan to sue. You can’t start a malpractice lawsuit against a provider unless you gave it this notice at least 182 days before filing, except in the cases below (MCL 600.2912b(1)). It must state at least (MCL 600.2912b(4)):

• the facts behind the claim
• the standard of practice or care you say applied
• how the provider breached it
• what the provider should have done instead
• how the breach caused the injury
• the names of every provider you’re notifying

Every provider you plan to sue, including a hospital, must be mailed the notice at its last known business or home address; if neither can reasonably be found, it can go to the facility where the care was given. Keep proof of mailing: the statute treats it as evidence that you complied (MCL 600.2912b(2)).

What happens during the 182 days?

• Records change hands. Within 56 days of the notice, you must give each provider access to the records related to the claim that you have, plus releases for others you know about, and each provider must give you access to its records related to the claim (MCL 600.2912b(5)).
• Your privacy changes. A notice waives the physician-patient privilege for the claim as to providers involved in the events or who treated you for the condition, and the providers you notified may talk with them (MCL 600.2912f; 600.2157).
• The provider must respond in writing within 154 days after receiving the notice, explaining the facts behind its defense, the standard of care it says applied and how it met it, and why it says its care didn’t cause your injury (MCL 600.2912b(7)).

Can you file sooner?

Sometimes (MCL 600.2912b):

• No response by day 154: you can sue when the 154 days end (subsection (8)).
• The provider says in writing that it won’t settle during the notice period: you can sue right away, as long as your deadline hasn’t passed (subsection (9)).
• A provider you couldn’t have identified earlier: if you gave 182-day notices to other providers, waited them out and sued, and then learn of a provider you didn’t and couldn’t reasonably have identified before filing, its notice period is 91 days (subsection (3)).

Otherwise, don’t file early. The statute says you “shall not commence an action” until the notice period is over, and sending more notices later for the same claim doesn’t add new 182-day periods (subsections (1), (6)).

What is an affidavit of merit?

An affidavit of merit is a sworn statement from a health professional backing your claim, filed with the complaint that starts the lawsuit. The signer must be someone your lawyer reasonably believes qualifies as an expert (next section). They certify that they reviewed the notice and the medical records your lawyer gave them, and state the standard of care, their opinion that it was breached, what should have been done, and how the breach caused the injury (MCL 600.2912d(1)).

There are two extensions: 28 more days if the court grants a motion for good cause, and up to 91 days after the complaint if the provider didn’t give you access to its records within the 56 days allowed (MCL 600.2912d(2), (3); 600.2912b(5)).

How does the provider answer?

The provider must answer within 21 days after your affidavit is filed, and file an affidavit of meritorious defense from its own qualified expert within 91 days after yours is served (MCL 600.2912e(1)). Unless the court allows more time for good cause, the provider must challenge your notice with its first response, and either side must challenge the other’s affidavit, including the signer’s qualifications, within 63 days after service. An affidavit can be amended, on the conditions the rules set (MCR 2.112(L)(2); MCL 600.2301).

Who can serve as an expert witness in Michigan?

Only someone who meets these rules can testify about the standard of care, for either side (MCL 600.2169(1)):

• A licensed health professional, in Michigan or another state.
• The same specialty. If the provider is a specialist, the expert must have practiced that specialty when the malpractice happened, and be board certified in it if the provider is.
• Recent work in the field. In the year before the malpractice, the expert must have spent most of their professional time in active clinical practice, or teaching at an accredited school or residency or clinical research program, in the same profession (and specialty, if any). For a general practitioner, that means general practice or teaching in the same profession.

The judge also weighs the expert’s training, specialty, years of practice or teaching, and the relevance of the testimony (MCL 600.2169(2)). Experts can’t be paid on a contingency basis (MCL 600.2169(4)).

How long do you have to sue for malpractice in Michigan?

The deadline to sue, called the statute of limitations, is generally two years, and the clock starts on the date of the act or omission (the mistake itself), not when you learned of it (MCL 600.5805(8), 600.5838a(1)). A late malpractice action “is barred” (MCL 600.5838a(2)). Every other Michigan injury deadline is in Michigan personal injury deadlines in one place.

How does the six-month discovery rule work?

If you learned of the malpractice late, the six-month rule in the table may help, but it has limits. You carry the burden: you must prove that, because of your physical discomfort, appearance, condition or otherwise, you neither discovered nor should have discovered the claim at least six months before the two-year deadline. The six-year outer limit still applies, except under the fraud, reproductive-injury and children’s rules in the table (MCL 600.5838a(2), (3)).

A hypothetical example: a radiologist misses a tumor, and 22 months later a new doctor spots it on the old scan. The two-year deadline is two months away. But if you can prove you didn’t, and shouldn’t have, discovered the claim before the last six months of those two years, you have six months from the discovery.

How does the notice of intent pause the clock?

If your deadline would run out during the notice period, a proper notice pauses the clock (lawyers call this tolling) for up to the number of days left in the notice period. When the pause ends, the time you had left starts running again (MCL 600.5856(c)). The notice must go out before the deadline passes, so start many months ahead.

What are the rules for children?

Most Michigan claims give children until at least a year after their 18th birthday (MCL 600.5851(1)), but malpractice claims don’t. A child under 8 when it happened has until the 10th birthday, and a child under 13 with a reproductive-system injury has until the 15th, or the regular period in either case if that ends later. Older children follow the regular rules (MCL 600.5851(7), (8)). So a baby hurt at birth often has until age 10, while the mother’s own claim follows the regular rules. See birth injury claims and C-section errors.

What if malpractice caused a death?

The claim is brought by the estate’s personal representative, appointed by the probate court (MCL 600.2922(2)). If the person died before their deadline ran out, or within 30 days after, the personal representative has two years from the letters of authority (the appointment papers) issued to the first personal representative, but no more than three years past the original deadline. A later appointment adds time only if the first personal representative dies or is found legally incapacitated within those two years; the successor then has one year from that event (MCL 600.5852).

On July 29, 2026, in Ernest v Brown, the Michigan Supreme Court held that a notice of intent pauses this extra time too, overruling Waltz v Wyse (2004). There, a notice sent in February 2023, before the estate’s time ran out that June, made an August 2023 lawsuit over a July 2020 death timely. See how wrongful death claims work.

What do you have to prove?

You must prove that the provider fell short of the recognized standard of care, judged by the state of the art at the time, and that this caused your injury. A general practitioner is measured against the standard of acceptable practice in their community or a similar one; a specialist, against the standard within the specialty, given the facilities reasonably available (MCL 600.2912a(1)). Jurors can be told that “a doctor is not liable merely because of an adverse result,” but is liable if negligence was a proximate cause of it (M Civ JI 30.04). And you must show your injury “more probably than not” was caused by the negligence (MCL 600.2912a(2)).

What if the mistake cost you a chance at a better outcome?

Some cases, often a late diagnosis, are about a lost chance to survive or to get a better result. You “cannot recover for loss of an opportunity to survive or an opportunity to achieve a better result unless the opportunity was greater than 50%” (MCL 600.2912a(2)). The Michigan Supreme Court has held that this 50% limit applies only to lost-opportunity claims, not to a traditional malpractice claim, in which you prove the negligence more probably than not caused your injury (O’Neal v St John Hospital, 2010). Courts have struggled with that sentence: the committee that drafts Michigan’s model jury instructions deleted its instruction on it in 2011, citing “a lack of consensus among the courts” (M Civ JI 30.20). If this applies to you, raise it with a lawyer early.

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How much can you recover, and what are the 2026 caps?

The jury (or judge, if there’s no jury) lists economic damages, losses with a price tag such as medical bills and lost income, separately from noneconomic damages, such as pain, suffering, disfigurement and loss of companionship (MCL 600.1483(2), (3)). Only noneconomic damages are capped. The State Treasurer adjusts the caps for inflation every year (MCL 600.1483(4)); the Michigan Department of Treasury’s January 30, 2026 notice sets them for 2026:

The higher cap applies only if the court finds that one or more defendants’ negligence caused one of these, paraphrasing the statute (MCL 600.1483(1)):

1. Paralysis from a brain or spinal cord injury (hemiplegia, paraplegia or quadriplegia) with total, permanent loss of function of one or more limbs.
2. Permanently impaired cognitive capacity that leaves the person unable to make independent, responsible life decisions and permanently unable to perform the activities of normal daily living independently.
3. Permanent loss of or damage to a reproductive organ that leaves the person unable to have children.

Every other injury, however serious, gets the standard cap. One cap covers the total noneconomic damages of all plaintiffs against all defendants, including a family’s loss of companionship after a death (MCL 600.1483(1), (3)). The jury isn’t told about the cap; the judge reduces an award above it (MCL 600.6304(5)). Ask a lawyer which year’s figure applies to your case.

How does your share of fault change the judgment?

When fault is shared, the jury finds your total damages and each person’s percentage of fault, including yours and that of anyone you settled with and released (MCL 600.6304(1)). The judge applies the cap to the noneconomic damages first, then reduces the total judgment by your percentage of fault (MCL 600.6306a(1), (2)). If your fault is greater than everyone else’s combined, you get no noneconomic damages at all (MCL 600.2959).

A hypothetical example, using the 2026 standard cap: a jury awards $300,000 in economic damages and $800,000 in noneconomic damages and finds you 10% at fault. The judge cuts the noneconomic award to $596,400, then reduces the $896,400 total by 10%, to $806,760. A real judgment has other adjustments, such as reducing future damages to present value (MCL 600.6306a(1)).

In most Michigan injury cases, each defendant pays only its own share (MCL 600.6304(4)). In malpractice cases, if you’re found to have no fault, each defendant can be made to pay the whole judgment (joint and several liability). If you’re partly at fault, a share that can’t be collected from one defendant can be reallocated among the other parties by their percentages of fault, on a motion filed within six months after the final judgment (MCL 600.6304(6)). For fault in other cases, see Michigan comparative fault.

What happens after you file?

Next comes discovery, when both sides exchange information and question witnesses under oath in depositions. Courts can also send the case to alternative dispute resolution (MCR 2.410(A)):

• Case evaluation. A panel of three, usually experienced lawyers, hears short presentations without testimony and puts a dollar value on the case (MCR 2.403(D), (J); 2.404(B)(2)). In a malpractice case, it generally must also say whether it finds a breach of the standard of care, no breach, or that reasonable minds could differ (MCR 2.403(K)(5)). Each side has 28 days to accept or reject in writing, and silence counts as a rejection. If everyone accepts, the case ends on those terms; if anyone rejects, it heads toward trial (MCR 2.403(L)-(N)).
• Mediation. A neutral mediator helps the sides look for a settlement but “has no authoritative decision-making power,” and what’s said is confidential, with limited exceptions (MCR 2.411(A)(2); 2.412(C), (D)).

How much does a Michigan malpractice lawyer cost?

Injury lawyers often work on a contingency fee, a share of what’s recovered. In Michigan personal injury and wrongful death cases, including malpractice, the fee can’t be more than one-third of the recovery after case costs are deducted. The agreement must be in writing, with a copy for you, and a lawyer may charge less (MCR 8.121(B)-(D), (F)). Case costs, such as expert fees, can be high in malpractice cases, so ask how they’re handled if the case is lost. See how personal injury lawyers get paid.

What to do next

1. Get the care you need now, and keep every bill. Write down what happened, with dates and names.
2. Request your complete records in writing from every provider involved. Under federal law, a provider must act within 30 days (one 30-day extension allowed) and can charge only a reasonable, cost-based fee (45 CFR 164.524).
3. Work backward from your deadline: two years from the care, minus at least 182 days for the notice, minus time for records and an expert’s review. If a loved one died, ask about opening the estate now.
4. Get a case review early. Get a free case review, or compare Michigan medical malpractice lawyers.
5. Get the fee agreement in writing, including how expert fees and other case costs are handled.

What waiting can cost

• The claim itself. A late malpractice action “is barred” (MCL 600.5838a(2)).
• The pause. A notice of intent stops the clock only if it goes out before the deadline (MCL 600.5856(c)).
• Time the steps take. A records request can take up to 60 days, an expert needs time, and the notice period is usually 182 days.
• Evidence. Memories fade and staff move on.

What a good outcome looks like

You have your records, and a qualified expert has told you whether the care fell below the standard. If it did, every provider got a proper notice in time, the lawsuit was filed with a sound affidavit of merit before the deadline, and the case was valued on the evidence. If it didn’t, you have a clear answer and can focus on getting well. From wondering whether a medical mistake can be challenged in Michigan to knowing what the law requires, which step comes first and how long you have.

For the national picture, see our complete medical malpractice guide or browse all medical malpractice guides. For Michigan’s other injury rules, see Michigan personal injury law in plain English.

Updated September 25, 2026

This guide is general information, not legal advice, and laws change. For advice about your situation, talk to a lawyer licensed in your state. Reading this page or contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship.