What is the legal test for a time bar on a medical malpractice claim?

Finally, it bears emphasis that the purpose of a statute of limitations is to protect a defendant against prosecution of stale claims and to stimulate a plaintiff to assert fresh claims in a diligent fashion. ( Norgart v. Upjohn Co. (1999) 21 Cal.4th 383, 395, 87 Cal.Rptr.2d 453, 981 P.2d 79.) Here, plaintiff did not present defendant with a stale claim. Less than a year after her surgery, plaintiff notified defendant in writing that she was considering suing him and expressly demanded that he preserve all documents and paper and electronic files relating to her care. Plaintiff likewise made her arbitration demand within a year of her surgery, and she filed an action in court a mere three days after defendant first challenged the arbitration agreement. On this record, the equities do not support application of a time bar on staleness grounds.