A.(1) The statute of limitations in malpractice actions shall be one (1) year as set forth in §28-3-104.
(2) In the event the alleged injury is not discovered within such one (1) year period, the period of limitation shall be one (1) year from the date of such discovery.
(3) In no event shall any such action be brought more than three (3) years after the date on which the negligent act or omission occurred except where there is fraudulent concealment on the part of the defendant in which case the action shall be commenced within one (1) year after discovery that the cause of action exists.
(4) The time limitation herein set forth shall not apply in cases where a foreign object has been negligently left in a patient's body in which case the action shall be commenced within one (1) year after the alleged injury or wrongful act is discovered or should have been discovered.
Hoffman v. Hospital Affiliates, Inc., 652 S.W.2d 341 (Tenn. 1983). (The statute does not bar an action against the physicians who failed to diagnose a fracture of bones in the patient's foot, where the suit was filed within one year after the patient discovered the injury, but almost 16 months after the original misdiagnosis. The fact that the discovery occurs before the statutory period has elapsed (i.e., during the first year following the negligence) does not require the plaintiff to file the suit earlier.)
Foster v. Harris, 633 S.W.2d 304 (Tenn. 1982). (An action accrues when the patient discovers not simply that he has contracted a disease, but when he discovers the occasion, the manner and means by which the breach of duty occured that produced his injuries, and the identity of the defendant who breached the duty. The case involved the contraction of hepatitis by a dental patient where the dentist who had hepatitis lacerated his finger and the patient's lip causing their blood to intermingle.)
Hall v. Ervin, 642 S.W.2d 724 (Tenn. 1982). (An IUD is not such a foreign object as to come within the exception in the statute of limitations where it was deliberately placed in the plaintiff with her consent.)
Benton v. Snyder, 825 S.W.2d 409 (Tenn. 1992). (A plaintiff seeking to toll the statute of limitations on grounds of fraudulent concealment must prove that the cause of action was known to and fraudulently concealed by the defendant.)