An action for damages for injury or death against any physician, health care provider or hospital licensed under the laws of this state, whether based in tort, breach of contract or otherwise, arising out of patient care, shall be brought within two (2) years of the date the plaintiff knew or should have known, through the exercise of reasonable diligence, of the existence of the death, injury or condition complained of; provided any action brought more than three (3) years from the date of the injury shall be limited to actual medical and surgical expenses incurred or to be incurred as a direct result of said injury, provided, however, the minority or incompetency when the cause of action arises will extend said period of limitation.
Redwine v. Baptist Medical Ctr. of Okla., 679 P.2d 1293 (Okla. 1984). (An action for the death of a patient during open-heart surgery when defective equipment caused air to enter his aorta was held to accrue when the plaintiff, using due diligence, discovers the cause of the death. Whether the plaintiff did in fact exercise "reasonable diligence" is a jury question.)
McCarroll v. Doctors Gen. Hosp., 664 P.2d 382 (Okla. 1983). (The act of the physician, following the negligent severance of the femoral artery during an operation for a hernia, in concealing the negligence from the patient is not imputable to the defendant hospital, there being no proof that he acted as an agent of the hospital. Hence, the concealment does not toll the statute of limitations as against the hospital. However, the concealment may be relevant to the issue of the time when the patient discovered or should have discovered the injury.)