Vermont Medical Malpractice Laws

You were injured in Vermont by a careless doctor, and you're thinking about a medical malpractice lawsuit. But like most people, you don't know much about your state's medical malpractice laws. What do you have to prove? How long do you have to file your claim in court? What compensation ("damages," in the language of the law) can you get for your injuries?

We'll tell you what you need to know, starting with the elements of a Vermont medical malpractice claim. We also explain the statute of limitations (the filing deadline), special procedures you'll need to follow, the kinds of damages you can collect, and more.

Elements of a Vermont Medical Malpractice Claim

To succeed with your Vermont medical malpractice case, you must prove:

• the standard of care
• how your provider's care was substandard
• you were injured, and
• the injury was caused by your provider's substandard care.

The Standard of Care

The standard of care describes what your provider should have done to deliver appropriate care. In legal terms, you have to show what a reasonably careful provider, having similar credentials to those of your provider, would have done under similar circumstances. You'll need an expert witness (more on that below) to define the applicable standard of care.

Your Provider's Care Was Substandard

Your expert witness also will describe how your provider's care fell short of the standard of care—meaning how it was substandard. The law calls this a "breach" of the standard of care. This element is critical to your malpractice case. Without it, you don't have a viable claim.

You Suffered an Injury

As part of your case, you must prove that you suffered an injury. How are you worse off now than you were before? Has your condition gotten worse? Do you have a new illness or injury? Has your chance of recovering from your original condition, or your chance of surviving it, decreased? Without a significant injury, you don't have a malpractice claim worth pursuing.

The Injury Was Caused by Your Provider's Substandard Care

Proving this element, called "causation," will also be up to your expert witness. Think of causation as the bow that ties all the other elements of your claim together. Most often, it won't be an issue because the cause of your injury will be clear. There are some cases, though, such as failure to diagnose claims, where causation can prove to be a claim killer.

The Role of Expert Witnesses in Your Malpractice Case

An expert witness is a person who's qualified, by education, training, or experience, to testify regarding medical, scientific, or other technical matters that are beyond the knowledge of most judges and jurors. It's up to the judge presiding over your lawsuit to decide whether an expert should be allowed to testify and if so, on what subjects.

Medical expert witnesses will be essential in nearly all malpractice cases. Both you and the health care provider you're suing will need them. As mentioned above, you'll need experts to testify—both before and during trial—to the standard of care, how that standard was breached, and causation. You'll also need at least one expert for the certificate of merit (discussed below) you must file with your Vermont medical malpractice lawsuit.

So, what kind of credentials will your expert medical witness need? Vt. R. Evid. 702 (2025) lays out the basic requirements. The expert must be qualified, by "knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education," to offer medical opinions. And those opinions must be based on:

• "sufficient facts or data"
• "reliable principles and methods," and
• reliable application of those principles and methods to the facts of the case.

Vermont courts have elaborated on the necessary qualifications for medical experts. As a general rule, your expert's qualifications must, at a minimum, match those of the defendant (the provider you're suing) credential for credential. If your case is against a board certified orthopedic surgeon with advanced fellowship training in reconstructive knee surgery who practices at a major metropolitan medical clinic, your medical expert will have to possess substantially the same qualifications, or better.

You'll want a seasoned malpractice lawyer to locate and work with all your expert witnesses. It's not unusual for the parties to fight over each other's experts and whether they should be allowed to testify. You don't want to go into those make-it-or-break-it battles alone. If the court disqualifies your medical experts, your case is probably over.

Vermont's Medical Malpractice Statute of Limitations

A statute of limitations is a law that limits your time to file a lawsuit in court. Vermont has lots of them, including one that specifically applies to medical malpractice cases.

The General Rules for Malpractice Cases

Vt. Stat. tit. 12, § 521 (2025) says you must file a Vermont medical malpractice lawsuit by the later of:

• three years from the date of the malpractice, or
• two years from the date you discovered or reasonably should have discovered your injury (the "discovery rule").

But there's a catch: Vermont has another rule, called a "statute of repose," that limits the time you have to discover your malpractice injury. Under this rule, the deadline to file is seven years from the date of the malpractice. This seven-year deadline applies whether you discover your injury or not.

Exceptions to the General Rules

Vermont law carves out some exceptions to the general rules described above. They include (but aren't limited to) these special rules.

Fraudulent concealment. There's no limit on the time you have to discover your injury when it's fraudulently concealed from you.

Foreign objects. Suppose your surgeon carelessly leaves a foreign object—like a sponge or a surgical instrument—inside your body. When you don't learn of the foreign object within the statute of limitations, you've got two years from the date you discover it to sue.

Legal disability or imprisonment. A legal disability is a status or condition that prevents a person from protecting their own legal interests. Under Vt. Stat. tit. 12, § 551 (2025), minors, those who are incapacitated because of a "mental condition or psychiatric disability," and prisoners might get more time to sue.

If you're planning to rely on any of these exceptions, speak to a Vermont medical malpractice lawyer first. Chances are you're in for a fight from the other side.

Vermont's Certificate of Merit Requirement

When you sue in Vermont for medical malpractice, you or your lawyer must file a certificate of merit along with the document that starts the lawsuit, called a complaint. The certificate must certify that you've consulted with a qualified medical expert (as discussed above) who has:

• described the standard of care the defendant was required to meet, and
• said there's a reasonable likelihood that the defendant failed to meet the standard of care, and that your injuries were caused by the defendant's substandard care.

In other words, you need an expert to tell you that your claim satisfies the elements for a medical malpractice case before you file it in court. (Vt. Stat. tit. 12, § 1042(a) (2025).)

There are a couple of circumstances when you don't need to file a certificate of merit. First, no certificate is needed in "the rare instances" when the court decides you don't need any expert to prove your case. Second, you don't have to file a certificate when your only malpractice claim is for lack of informed consent. (Vt. Stat. tit. 12, § 1042(e)-(f) (2025).)

Note that if you sue more than one provider, you'll probably need a separate certificate of merit for each one. Suppose, for example, that your case is against an orthopedic surgeon and a surgical nurse. You're going to need two different experts and two certificates. Your orthopedic expert can't opine as to the standard of care for a surgical nurse, or vice-versa.

Finally, what happens if you file your Vermont malpractice case without the required certificate? The court can dismiss your case "without prejudice," meaning you might be able to refile it once you line up an expert and prepare the necessary certificate. Just be sure to keep an eye on the statute of limitations. (See Vt. Stat. tit. 12, § 1042(d)-(e) (2025).)

Damages in a Vermont Medical Malpractice Case

If your Vermont medical malpractice case succeeds, you'll be awarded "compensatory damages." As the name suggests, these damages are meant to compensate you for your injuries and losses. Compensatory damages come in two types: Economic (also known as "special") damages and noneconomic (sometimes called "general") damages.

Economic Damages

Economic damages reimburse you for losses that come out of your (or your insurance company's) pocket. Common examples include:

• hospital, medical, and pharmacy bills
• lost wages and benefits
• amounts you pay others to do household chores you're no longer able to perform, and
• costs of medical equipment like crutches, a wheelchair, or a hospital bed.

Noneconomic Damages

These damages cover losses that don't come directly out of your pocket. Included are things such as:

• pain and suffering
• emotional distress
• disability
• disfigurement, and
• loss of enjoyment of life.

Can You Recover Punitive Damages?

Probably not. Unlike compensatory damages, punitive damages don't reimburse you for your losses. Instead, they're meant to punish a wrongdoer and to deter others from behaving similarly in the future. Punitive damages only get awarded in cases involving extreme and egregious misconduct.

Most medical malpractice cases result from simple negligence, not deliberate or outrageous misbehavior. For that reason, you're not likely to recover punitive damages, no matter how severe your injuries.

Vermont Doesn't Cap Medical Malpractice Damages

Many states put limits, or "caps," on damages in medical malpractice cases. Noneconomic damages for pain and suffering and emotional distress are favorite targets. In a cap state, even if you win your case, the court might end up reducing the damages you can collect.

With one exception, Vermont doesn't cap damages. The exception is for claims against the state of Vermont. If a state government agency (such as a state-run hospital) or employee (like a health care provider) caused your injuries, Vermont law caps your damages at:

• $500,000 per claimant, and
• $2 million for all claimants injured in the same occurrence.

(Vt. Stat. tit. 12 § 5601 (2025).)

Why You Should Hire a Vermont Medical Malpractice Lawyer

It's no secret that medical malpractice claims are among the most difficult, expensive, and time consuming of all personal injury cases. Most states have enacted laws to protect health care providers and their insurance companies from lawsuits. Jurors (and some judges) are biased in favor of doctors and nurses, whether consciously or not. A routine medical malpractice case can cost in the six-figure range (meaning $100,000 or more) to get to trial.

For all these reasons and more, a medical malpractice case isn't one you want to handle on your own. You'll be facing experienced insurance adjusters and defense lawyers who know how to make quick work of unrepresented malpractice litigants. Judges will expect you to know state law and court rules, and eventually will run out of patience for those who don't.

What Will a Vermont Malpractice Lawyer Do?

For starters, a malpractice lawyer knows what information to gather for your case, and where to find it. This will include getting all your medical records and bills, finding out about your employment and income history, and learning about all the potential defendants you might pursue for a recovery.

More important still, an experienced malpractice lawyer knows how to find expert witnesses, what records they'll need to render opinions, what's necessary under Vermont law for an expert witness report, and how to prepare medical experts to testify in a pretrial deposition and at trial.

As the trial date approaches, your lawyer will respond to efforts by the defense to keep your experts from being able to testify in court, and to have your case dismissed before it's heard by a jury. This "motion practice," as it's often called, requires extensive legal research and brief writing, and most often involves in-person arguments before the judge.

Most personal injury cases settle without a trial, but that's not true for medical malpractice claims. Those that manage to survive efforts to have them dismissed are far more likely to wind up in front of a jury. There, injured malpractice plaintiffs don't do well. You nearly double your odds of getting a malpractice payout (that is, a settlement or favorable jury verdict) by having a lawyer on your side.

Finally, if you have a malpractice case that's worth pursuing, you should be able to find a qualified attorney who will take your case for a contingency fee. This means you won't have to pay the lawyer up front or by the hour. Most will also advance all necessary case expenses and deduct them (together with their fee) from your settlement or jury verdict.

Next Steps

If you decide to pursue a medical malpractice claim, your best chance of success will come from having an experienced attorney handle your case. When you're ready, here's how to find a malpractice lawyer who's right for you.