If you or someone you love was harmed by medical care at Westchester Medical Center, the most important fact to understand is this: your deadline to act is far shorter than you think. You have 90 days from the date of the malpractice to serve a formal Notice of Claim, and one year and 90 days to file your lawsuit.
That is roughly half the time you would have against a private hospital, and missing either deadline can end your case before it begins.
If you are reading this while you are still in shock, still in pain, or still trying to make sense of what happened to you or a family member, you are not alone. We have walked many families in Westchester and New York through this exact moment, and there are concrete steps you can take right now to protect your right to compensation.
Why WMC Is Treated Differently from Other Westchester Hospitals
A hospital’s corporate structure controls the rules that apply to your claim. Westchester Medical Center is operated by the Westchester County Health Care Corporation (WCHCC), a New York State public benefit corporation created under Public Authorities Law § 3303. That single fact reshapes your entire timeline.
The standard 2.5-year medical malpractice deadline most patients have heard of, found at CPLR § 214-a, does not apply to WMC. Claims against WCHCC are governed instead by Public Authorities Law § 3316, which imports the strict municipal-hospital framework of General Municipal Law § 50-e.
White Plains Hospital, Northern Westchester Hospital, Phelps Memorial, NewYork-Presbyterian Lawrence, and Montefiore New Rochelle are all private hospitals. WMC is not. It is the only major public hospital in Westchester County, and patients harmed there operate under a fundamentally different legal clock.
What Is a Notice of Claim, and Why Are You On a 90-Day Clock?
A Notice of Claim is a formal written document that puts WCHCC on notice that you intend to bring a lawsuit. Under General Municipal Law § 50-e, you must serve it within 90 days of the malpractice incident. Miss that window without court permission, and the lawsuit you file later can be dismissed on motion, even if you are still well inside the one-year-and-90-day statute of limitations.
The notice itself must contain specific information: the nature of the claim, the time and place where the negligence occurred, the manner in which the injury happened, and the injuries you sustained. A vague or incomplete notice can be challenged by WCHCC’s legal team, so it must be drafted carefully and served on the correct entity.
WCHCC also has the right under PBA § 3316 to demand a sworn examination of you (a “50-h hearing”) before you ever file suit. That examination must be completed before the case can move forward, and it is one more reason to retain counsel early rather than late.
The Lawsuit Deadline: One Year and 90 Days
Even after a timely Notice of Claim is served, the clock keeps running. Under PBA § 3316, your actual lawsuit must be commenced within one year and 90 days after the event giving rise to your claim. A separate 30-day waiting period between service of the notice and filing of the lawsuit further compresses the schedule.
That means the practical window to investigate, retain medical experts, draft the complaint, complete the 50-h examination, and file suit is significantly tighter than a calendar year suggests.
For comparison, a patient injured at a private Westchester hospital under CPLR § 214-a has 2.5 years to file suit and no notice of claim requirement. That extra time is a luxury you do not have when the negligent provider is WMC.
What If You Have Already Missed the 90-Day Window?
It is not always game over. General Municipal Law § 50-e(5) allows a court to grant permission to serve a late Notice of Claim in limited circumstances. Courts weigh factors that include whether WCHCC had actual knowledge of the essential facts within 90 days, whether your delay was reasonable, and whether the delay prejudiced the hospital’s ability to defend the case.
These motions are not routine, and the legal standards have grown stricter in recent years. WCHCC’s defense team will oppose them aggressively. If you believe the window has closed, do not assume your case is dead, and do not assume it is alive. Speak with a New York medical malpractice attorney immediately so the facts can be evaluated against the late-notice standard.
Why the Recent Verdicts Against WMC Matter to Your Case
Two recent results illustrate what is at stake when WMC’s care falls below the standard of care, and why timely filing is consequential.
In November 2023, a Westchester County jury returned a $120 million verdict in Lee v. Westchester County Healthcare Corp. (Westchester Supreme Court, Index No. 50914/2020). The plaintiff, William Lee, arrived at WMC by ambulance suffering a basilar artery stroke. The jury found that a three-hour delay in diagnosing his blood clot, caused by inexperienced on-call physicians who misread the CT scan, resulted in catastrophic permanent brain damage. The award included $51 million for pain and suffering and $51 million for loss of services to Mr. Lee’s wife. It remains the largest medical malpractice verdict in Westchester County history.
In October 2024, on the fifth day of trial in a separate case, WMC settled the claim of 15-year-old Aiden Zemon for $35.6 million. Aiden had been rushed to WMC after a scooter collision. His treatment team addressed his spleen injury but failed to treat frontal sinus fractures, leaving him vulnerable to MRSA and other life-threatening infections that caused severe brain damage and a lifetime need for 24-hour care. The Zemon settlement is reported as the highest pre-verdict medical malpractice settlement in New York State history.
These cases share a pattern. The injuries were catastrophic. The medical errors were preventable. And the procedural requirements were met. Lawsuits filed late, or notices of claim filed late, never reach a jury. Every dollar recovered in those cases existed only because someone met the 90-day clock.
What to Do Right Now
If you suspect malpractice at Westchester Medical Center, MidHudson Regional Hospital, or any other WCHCC-affiliated facility, contact a Westchester medical malpractice attorney as soon as possible. The earlier you start, the more time your legal team has to:
- Obtain and review your medical records before evidence is lost or altered
- Retain independent medical experts to evaluate the standard of care
- Draft a Notice of Claim that survives scrutiny from WCHCC’s legal team
- Preserve witness recollections while they are still fresh
- Complete the 50-h examination process
- File suit within the one-year-and-90-day window
Jeffrey Weiskopf has nearly 20 years of trial experience and has recovered more than $20 million for injured New Yorkers. We handle medical malpractice cases on a contingency basis, which means you pay nothing unless we recover compensation for you.
If you are within, near, or even past the 90-day window after a serious injury at WMC, call our Ossining office at 914-315-0111 for a free, confidential case evaluation. Our phone line is answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The sooner you call, the more options you have.
