Is It Worth Suing for Medical Malpractice in Denver? What to Weigh Before You Decide

This page provides general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always consult a licensed attorney for advice specific to your situation.

What a Colorado Malpractice Claim Has to Show Before It Can Go Forward

A bad outcome after treatment is painful, and it’s natural to wonder whether someone made a mistake. Colorado law asks for more than a bad outcome before a malpractice lawsuit can move forward.

An expert has to review the facts early

When a lawsuit alleges that a licensed professional was negligent, the plaintiff’s attorney must file a certificate of review for each professional named, “within sixty days after the service of the complaint,” unless the court allows more time for good cause (C.R.S. 13-20-602(1)(a)).

In that certificate, the attorney declares that they consulted someone with expertise in the area of the alleged negligence, and that the expert reviewed the known facts and concluded the claim “does not lack substantial justification.” If the certificate isn’t filed as the statute requires, the result is dismissal of the complaint (C.R.S. 13-20-602(3), (4)).

In plain terms, a qualified expert has to look at your records and agree the claim has a real basis before the lawsuit can go far.

The expert has to know the right field

In a case against a physician, the expert who testifies about negligence generally has to be a licensed physician who was “substantially familiar with applicable standards of care and practice” for the treatment involved. A court won’t let a doctor in one subspecialty testify against a doctor in another unless the standards of care in the two fields are shown to be similar (C.R.S. 13-64-401).

Malpractice cases take careful preparation for this reason: a physician who knows that kind of care has to be able to explain how it fell short.

Colorado’s Deadlines for Filing a Malpractice Claim

Colorado sets a specific deadline for claims against health-care providers. A lawsuit against a health-care professional or health-care institution must generally be “instituted within two years after the date that such action accrues,” and “in no event shall an action be brought more than three years after the act or omission which gave rise to the action” (C.R.S. 13-80-102.5(1)).

A claim generally accrues when both the injury and its cause are known, or should have been known with reasonable diligence (C.R.S. 13-80-108(1)).

The statute lists situations where that deadline works differently, including when:

• The act or omission was knowingly concealed
• An unauthorized foreign object was left in the body
• Both the physical injury and its cause couldn’t have been known with reasonable diligence
• The claim is brought for a young child who meets the statute’s age conditions, or for a person under a legal disability (C.R.S. 13-80-102.5(3))

These exceptions have their own conditions and timing, so don’t rely on one without talking to a lawyer. For more on how these deadlines work, see our article on the Colorado medical malpractice statute of limitations.

A public hospital or clinic adds a much shorter step

If the care came from a public entity or one of its employees on the job, Colorado requires written notice to be filed “within one hundred eighty-two days after the date of the discovery of the injury,” even if you don’t yet know everything about the claim. Missing that notice “shall forever bar” the claim (C.R.S. 24-10-109(1)). Whether a provider counts as a public entity isn’t always obvious, so it’s worth asking early.

What Colorado Lets You Recover, and the Limits That Apply

Part of deciding whether a case is worth it is understanding what a successful claim could and couldn’t include. Colorado’s malpractice statute sets its own limits.

Noneconomic damages

Noneconomic damages cover harm like pain and suffering, inconvenience, emotional stress, physical impairment or disfigurement, and impairment of the quality of life (C.R.S. 13-64-302(1)(a)(II)). In a malpractice case, these damages are limited, and the limit depends on when the care happened and, for some claims, when the case was filed:

When the claim or care falls	Noneconomic limit
Filed on or after January 1, 2025, and accrued on or after January 1, 2024 but before January 1, 2026	$415,000
Acts or omissions in 2026	$530,000
Acts or omissions in 2027	$645,000
Acts or omissions in 2028	$760,000
Acts or omissions in 2029	$875,000

Starting January 1, 2030, that limit is to be adjusted for inflation every two years (C.R.S. 13-64-302(1)(c)). Older claims fall under earlier limits, which is one more reason to have the dates in your case checked.

If a patient died, the limits work differently. A wrongful death claim against a health-care professional or institution has its own noneconomic damages limit: $555,000 for acts or omissions in 2025, rising each year to $1,575,000 for acts or omissions in 2029, and adjusted starting January 1, 2030 (C.R.S. 13-21-203(1)(b)).

The noneconomic limits in the table above are lower than the $1.5 million noneconomic damages limit that applies in many other Colorado injury cases filed during 2025, or based on claims that accrue on or after January 1, 2025, with inflation adjustments starting January 1, 2028. That general limit doesn’t cover claims against health-care professionals and institutions, which follow the malpractice statute instead (C.R.S. 13-21-102.5(3)(a)(II), (III), (3)(c)(I)(B)).

An overall limit on all damages

Colorado also limits the total amount recoverable for all damages from all defendants for a course of care. That overall limit is the greater of $1 million, present value per patient, or 125 percent of the noneconomic limit for a malpractice wrongful death claim under C.R.S. 13-21-203(1)(b) in effect when the care happened. There’s an exception: if the court finds, on good cause shown, that past and future economic damages would exceed the limit and that applying it would be unfair, the court may award more for economic damages only (C.R.S. 13-64-302(1)(b)).

Economic damages are the losses you can put a number on, like medical bills, future care costs and lost income. If yours are large, how they’re documented matters a great deal.

Public employees are treated differently

The malpractice damages limits “are not applicable to a health-care professional who is a public employee under the ‘Colorado Governmental Immunity Act’” or to a certified health-care institution that is a public entity under that Act (C.R.S. 13-64-302(1)(b)). Claims against government bodies have their own maximum amounts, adjusted every four years by the Secretary of State (C.R.S. 24-10-114).

Five Questions That Help Answer “Is It Worth It?”

These five questions can help you see what a lawyer is likely to look at when deciding whether a case is worth pursuing.

1. How serious and lasting is the harm?

Think about what’s changed: more surgery, a longer hospital stay, and care you’ll need for years or time away from work. The limits above shape the potential for noneconomic damages, so the size and length of your economic losses can influence whether a case makes sense.

2. Can the harm be tied to the care?

Your records have to support a link between what happened during treatment and the harm you’re living with. That’s where an expert review comes in, and it’s the same review the certificate of review requires, generally within 60 days of when the complaint is served.

3. How much time has passed?

With a deadline that’s generally two years, a three-year outer limit and exceptions that work differently, check your dates early. If a public hospital or public employee may be involved, the 182-day notice step can come due much sooner.

4. Who provided the care?

A private practice, a hospital system, and a public clinic can each lead to different rules, different deadlines, and different limits. Knowing exactly who treated you and where is a practical first step.

5. What records exist?

Discharge papers, test results, portal messages, and your own notes about when symptoms changed all help an expert understand what happened. The more complete the file, the sooner a lawyer can give you a clear read.

When a Case May Not Be Worth Pursuing

A case may not make sense to pursue when:

• An expert who reviews the records doesn’t see a basis for the claim, which means a certificate of review can’t be filed
• The deadline has already passed, and no exception applies
• The harm, while real, is limited and short-lived, so the recoverable damages may not justify the time a case requires
• The link between the care and the harm can’t be shown with the evidence available

If a lawyer tells you a case isn’t viable, ask them to explain the reason.

How We Look at a Denver Malpractice Case

When you reach out to our medical malpractice lawyers in Denver, we start with the records and the timeline. We look at the care you received, when the harm appeared, who was involved, and what it has cost you. Where a case needs one, we consult with a medical expert who knows the field and review the damages you could claim under Colorado’s limits.

If the case doesn’t appear viable, we’ll tell you why in plain terms, whether that’s causation, the size of the damages, a deadline, or the evidence.

Managing Partner Kevin Cheney is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA). CGH Injury Lawyers, formerly Cheney Galluzzi & Howard, was founded in Denver in 2016 and prepares each case as if it will be tried. If Spanish is your first language, you can reach us at (303) 835-9177.

If you’d like to understand the difference between a claim you can bring and one you can’t, our article on whether you can sue your Colorado doctor for medical malpractice covers the basics.

What to Gather Now

You don’t need all these itemshis before you call, but each item helps:

1. Your medical records, including discharge papers, visit summaries, imaging and lab results, and medication lists
2. Names of the providers and facilities, including hospitals, clinics, doctors, nurses and specialists
3. A simple timeline with the dates your symptoms began, changed or got worse
4. Bills and insurance statements that show what the care has cost
5. Proof of lost work, like pay stubs or a letter from your employer
6. Your own notes or photos showing how your daily life has changed

Keep copies in one place, and write the date you first suspected something went wrong. That date can matter to your deadline.

Speak With a Denver Medical Malpractice Lawyer

If you’re weighing whether to pursue a claim, a conversation with a Denver medical malpractice lawyer can help you see where you stand before your deadline passes. Call (303) 209-9395 or use our contact page to tell us what happened, and we’ll start with your records and timeline.

You can learn more on our Denver medical malpractice lawyer page, or read about medical malpractice claims in Colorado.

Frequently Asked Questions

Written by CGH Injury Lawyers.

Last reviewed: September 15, 2026.

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