Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California

The statute of limitations to collect is either 2 or 4 years. If you signed a document stating you would pay the bill, i.e. a written agreement, the doctor had 4 years to collect the bill from you. Since the doctor waited 7 years to send the bill to you, no you are not legally obligated to pay the bill. Be mindful that if the doctor calls you, you must not acknowledge owing the bill because that could trigger a new 4 year period. Simply tell the doctor that you do not owe on this bill.

There are circumstances where the statute of limitations is longer than what Mr. Jordan suggests, but they are the exception rather than the rule and the burden of proving the exception would fall on the doctor.

I would not ignore the bill, however, as the doctor may continue his efforts to collect. You may wish to contact the doctor to explain that the statute of limitations bars any efforts to collect this bill, and that you would appreciate the doctor writing this amount off his books and stop his collection efforts. That contact should be polite, but firm, and better practice would be to put this communication in writing.