Hoffman v. Hospital Affiliates, Inc.

• Decision Date: 06 June 1983
• Citation: 652 S.W.2d 341
• Parties: Corrine HOFFMAN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. HOSPITAL AFFILIATES, INC. et al., Defendants-Appellees. 652 S.W.2d 341
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

Page 341

652 S.W.2d 341

Corrine HOFFMAN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. HOSPITAL AFFILIATES, INC. et al., Defendants-Appellees.

652 S.W.2d 341

Supreme Court of Tennessee at Nashville.

June 6, 1983.

James Hunter, Jr., Gallatin, for plaintiff-appellant.

C.J. Gideon, Jr., Roger T. May, H. Francis Stewart, Nashville, for defendants-appellees.

OPINION

BROCK, Justice.

This is a medical malpractice case in which the only issue on appeal is whether the action is barred by the statute of limitations embodied in T.C.A., Sec. 29-26-116. ¹

On November 29, 1979, the plaintiff fell at home in Hendersonville, Tennessee, at which time she claims to have fractured the second, third and fourth metatarsus in her left foot. The following day, she was examined by Dr. Robert Powell at the Hendersonville Community Hospital Emergency Room and Dr. James K. Hitchman, a radiologist, was consulted to review the x-rays. Dr. Powell told the plaintiff that she had no broken bones and suffered only a tendon sprain. On December 4, 1979, she was seen by Dr. Lloyd A. Walwyn, a local orthopedic surgeon, and was advised that she could walk on the injured foot. The plaintiff alleged that she did not discover that the three bones in her left foot were broken until she visited her daughter in Seattle, Washington, and a further x-ray was taken on March 11, 1980.

The gravamen of the plaintiff's complaint is that the Hendersonville physicians failed to diagnose the fracture and that she suffered injuries as a result of their failure. The plaintiff filed her complaint on March 10, 1981, within one year after discovering her injury, but almost sixteen months after the alleged malpractice occurred.

On April 13, 1981, relying upon the one year statute of limitations in malpractice actions set forth in T.C.A., Sec. 29-26-116(a)(1), the defendants filed motions to dismiss. On June 23, 1981, the trial court overruled the defendants' motions to dismiss and granted permission to seek an interlocutory appeal. The Court of Appeals, Middle Section, on August 4, 1981, granted the defendants' application for interlocutory appeal. The court unanimously held that the plaintiff's cause of action was barred by the one year statute of limitations and determined that the savings provision of T.C.A., Sec. 29-26-116(a)(2), was not applicable in this case. On May 24, 1982, this Court granted the application for permission to appeal.

In order to put this issue in proper perspective, it is necessary to examine the precedent established by several key medical malpractice holdings, as well as, the Medical Malpractice Claims Act, hereinafter, the Act.

In Teeters v. Curry, Tenn., 518 S.W.2d 512, 517 (1974) this Court adopted the "discovery" rule and held that "the cause of action accrues and the statute of limitations commences to run when the patient discovers, or in the exercise of reasonable care and diligence for his own health and welfare, should have discovered the resulting injury." The Court found it difficult to embrace a rule of law which would require a plaintiff to file suit prior to knowledge or his injury or require that he sue to vindicate a non-existing wrong at a time when the injury is unknown and unknowable. 518 S.W.2d at 515.

Following the Court's adoption of the "discovery doctrine" applicable to medical malpractice actions, the legislature embodied the doctrine in the Medical Malpractice Claims Act of 1975. At the time the legislature enacted T.C.A., Sec. 29-26-116, this state was in the throes of what was perceived to be a medical malpractice crisis. The insurance companies had become reluctant to write medical malpractice policies because of the huge increase in the number of claims. The legislature exercised its constitutional prerogative to balance competing public policy interests so as to constrain application of the discovery rule by adopting a three-year ceiling, but, at the same time, preserve the salutary aspects of Teeters which allowed an innocent plaintiff ample time to bring suit. By limiting the amenability of members of the medical profession to suit for malpractice, the legislature hoped to hold down health care costs and to discourage physicians from ceasing to practice or letting the quality of their services decline through the practice of "defensive medicine." Harrison v. Schrader, Tenn., 569 S.W.2d 822, 824, 826 (1978).

The statute of limitations' provisions of the Act has several key elements. Section 1 provides a plaintiff one year after the cause of action accrued to bring suit. Section 2 states that in the event that an alleged injury is not discovered within the one year period, the statute of limitations shall be one year from the date of discovery. However, section 3 provides a three year ceiling to the date of discovery rule. The constitutionality of the three-year limitation was upheld in Harrison v. Schrader, supra. Sections (a)3 and 4 provide, however, that this ceiling is not effective in two limited circumstances. If there is fraudulent concealment on the part of the defendant or if a foreign object has been negligently left in a patient's body by the defendant physician, Hall v. Ervin, Tenn., 642 S.W.2d 724, 725 (1983), the plaintiff is entitled to commence his lawsuit within one year after such a discovery.

Foster v. Harris, Tenn., 633 S.W.2d 304 (1982), is the leading case which construes the statute of limitations in medical malpractice cases. On October 11, 1975, Harris, the defendant dentist, examined Foster, the plaintiff. During the treatment, the defendant lacerated his finger and their blood intermingled. In January, 1976, the plaintiff learned that he was suffering from serum hepatitis, a disease that can be contracted and passed from one person to another only through blood contact. Despite the plaintiff's diligent search to determine the source of his disease, it was not until July 21, 1976, when the plaintiff returned to his dentist's office, that he learned that Dr. Harris was infected with serum hepatitis on October 11, 1975. The complaint was filed on February 11, 1977. We held that the plaintiff's cause of action was timely filed. "It is axiomatic that no judicial remedy was available to this plaintiff until he discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, (1) the occasion, the manner and means by which a breach of duty occurred that produced his injuries; and (2) the identity of the defendant who breached the duty." 633 S.W.2d at 305.

The thrust of Foster was to construe T.C.A., Sec. 29-26-116(a)(2), specifically defining when discovery occurs. In Foster we determined that the injury was discovered upon learning that the source of the disease was a negligent act, clearly determining that the statute of limitations does not run until the existence or identity of a tortfeasor is known. Foster was limited to the determination of defining the date of discovery.

In the instant case, the date of discovery is uncontroverted. Both parties contend that the date of discovery of the...