Tennessee Personal Injury Statute of Limitations

If a medical professional acted negligently or failed to follow the required standard of care, causing your injuries or the death of a loved one, you have one year to file a medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctor and the hospital where you received treatment per Tenn. Code § 29–26-116 

 Alternatively, you have one year from the date of discovery or the date you should have reasonably discovered the injury to initiate a lawsuit if your injury was not immediately apparent. However, you have no more than three years from the original event to determine a medical professional’s negligence resulting in your injury under this rule (unless there is fraudulent concealment on the part of the defendant). 

For example, if during the birth of your child, your doctor performs certain acts or fails to act per the standard of care, causing your baby neurological harm that leads to the development of cerebral palsy, you might not learn about your child’s affliction until months after their first birthday. At that time, the statute of limitations will have already expired. Still, because you learned that the doctor’s negligence caused your child’s diagnosis more than 12 months later, you still have an additional year from the date of discovery to bring legal action.  

 Lastly, should you find that a surgeon or other medical professional left a foreign object in your body during surgery, you have one year after you discover the object to initiate a lawsuit against the negligent health care provider or medical facility where your operation occurred.