Actions of contract or tort for malpractice, error or mistake against physicians, surgeons, dentists, optometrists, hospitals and sanitoria shall be commenced only within three years after the cause of action accrues, but in no event shall any such action be commenced more than 7 years after the occurrence of the acts or omission which is the alleged cause of the injury upon which such action is based except where the action is based upon the leaving of a foreign object in the body.
Franklin v. Albert, 381 Mass. 611, 411 N.E.2d 458 (1980). (This case expressly overruled, Pasquale v. Chandler, 350 Mass. 450, 215 N.E.2d 319 (1966) , which held that a malpractice cause of action accrues at the time of the malpractice rather than at the time the damage results or is ascertained. A malpractice cause of action does not accrue until the patient learns or should realize that he has been harmed as a result of the defendant's conduct. The case involved the failure of a hospital to act upon its X-ray finding of mediastinal widening, an early manifestation of Hodgkins disease. The fact that the Legislature had rejected bills that included a form of the discovery rule for malpractice cases was held not to necessarily disapprove of a discovery rule. The court also overruled, Cappuci v. Barone, 266 Mass. 578, 165 N.E. 653 (1929).)
If a person liable to a personal action fraudulently conceals the cause of such action from the knowledge of the person entitled to bring it, the period prior to the discovery of his cause of action by the person so entitled shall be excluded in determining the time limited for the commencement of the action.
Bourassa v. LaFortune, 711 F. Supp. 43 (D. Mass. 1989) , applying Massachusetts law. (The evidence did not show that the physician or the certified registered nurse anesthetist (C.R.N.A.) took affirmative steps to fraudulently conceal the cause of the decedent's death. Under Massachusetts law, if a fiduciary duty exists, then failure to reveal facts about the cause of action constitutes fraudulent concealment and tolls the statute of limitations. The court found no fiduciary duty on the part of the C.R.N.A., but did find that the physician had a fiduciary duty. Therefore, the claim against the C.R.N.A. was time-barred, but the claim against the physician was not.)