Is there a time limit for medical negligence claims in the UAE?

You may well still be in time — the clock generally runs from discovery, not from the treatment date. Under the UAE Civil Code's rules on harmful acts, a compensation claim must usually be brought within three years of the date the injured person became aware of both the harm and who was responsible for it, subject to a longer absolute cap measured from the act itself. If you only recently connected your mother's condition to the misdiagnosis, your three years arguably started then, not two years ago — though expect the facility to argue you should have known earlier, which is exactly why moving quickly matters. Separately from any court claim, a complaint to the relevant health authority feeds into the medical liability committee process, and that route has its own practical timelines. What to do now: request your mother's complete medical records from the facility in writing, have the current doctor document the new diagnosis clearly, and write down when and how you first realised something was wrong, since that date may decide everything. Do not wait for the facility to respond before taking advice. A UAE lawyer can confirm exactly where your mother's claim sits on the timeline once the records are in hand.