A. No action for damages for injury or death against any physician, chiropractor, nurse, licensed midwife practitioner, dentist, psychologist, optometrist, or hospital duly licensed under the laws of this state, or community blood center or tissue bank as defined in R.S. 40:1299.41A., whether based upon tort, or breach of contract, or otherwise, arising out of patient care shall be brought unless filed within one year from the date of the alleged act, omission or neglect, or within one year from the date of discovery of the alleged act, omission or neglect; however, even as to claims filed within one year from the date of such discovery, in all events such claims shall be filed at the latest within a period of three years from the date of the alleged act, omission or neglect.
"Health care provider" means a person, partnership, limited liability partnership, limited liability company, corporation, facility, or institution licensed by this state to provide health care or professional services as a physician, hospital, community blood center, tissue bank, dentist, registered or licensed practical nurse, ambulance service under circumstances in which the provisions of R.S. 40:1299.39 are not applicable, certified registered nurse anesthetist, nurse midwife, licensed midwife, pharmacist, optometrist, podiatrist, chiropractor, physical therapist, occupational therapist, psychologist, or any nonprofit facility considered tax- exempt under Section 501C.(3), Internal Revenue Code, pursuant to 26 U.S.C.S. 501C.(3), for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer or cancer-related diseases, whether or not such a facility is required to be licensed by this state, or any professional corporation a health care provider is authorized to form under the provisions of Title 12 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, or any partnership, limited liability partnership, limited liability company, or corporation whose business is conducted principally by health care providers, or an officer, employee partner, member, shareholder, or agent thereof acting in the course and scope of his employment.
Chaney v. State, Through the Dept. of Health & Human Resources, 432 So. 2d 256 (La. 1983). (The Louisiana Supreme Court held that the legislature has, in a limited manner, overruled, the discovery exception of the judicially created doctrine of contra non valentem as it applies to medical malpractice actions filed more than 3 years after the date of the act, omission or neglect. Analyzing the one and three year prescriptive periods of R.S. 9:5628, the court subsequently recognized that discovery is applicable to the one-year period, but is expressly inapplicable to the three year period.)
Valerie v. Foret, 544 So. 2d 737 (La. Ct. App. 1989). (The plaintiff filed a malpractice action against a surgeon, who allegedly operated on the wrong knee, more than one year after the incident and more than 90 days after the plaintiff had received the opinion of the Medical Review Panel. The appellate court agreed with the trial court that the filing was untimely, and affirmed dismissal of the suit.)
Street v. Mitchell, 450 So. 2d 1046 (La. Ct. App. 1984). (The one-year-statute of limitations bars an action by the plaintiff, who contracted Type C hepatitis as a result of a blood transfusion. The action was brought more than two years after the transfusion, the plaintiff alleging that he did not know the origin of his disease. In a prior pleading, however, he stated that the condition was diagnosed more than a year before he instituted the action.)
Whitnell v. Menville, 540 So. 2d 304 (La. 1989). (The plaintiff brought a malpractice action for failure to diagnose a pre-cancerous bladder condition. The Supreme Court of Louisiana held that a urologist's allegedly negligent misdiagnosis did not suspend prescription where there was no allegation that the urologist took actions to conceal his negligence.)