(a) Except as provided in this section, a health care liability action against a licensee may be brought only against the licensee, the licensee’s management company, the licensee’s managing employees, or an individual caregiver who provided direct health care services, whether an employee or independent contractor. A passive investor shall not be liable under this part. A health care liability action against any other individual or entity may be brought only pursuant to subsection (b).
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 29-26-102

  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Health care liability action: means any civil action, including claims against the state or a political subdivision thereof, alleging that a health care provider or providers have caused an injury related to the provision of, or failure to provide, health care services to a person, regardless of the theory of liability on which the action is based. See Tennessee Code 29-26-101
  • Licensee: means a health care provider licensed, authorized, certified, registered, or regulated under title 33, 63, or 68 that is legally responsible for all health care services provided. See Tennessee Code 29-26-101
  • Management company: means an individual or entity that contracts with, or receives a fee from, a licensee to provide any of the following services to or for a licensee:
    (A) Directly hiring or firing the administrator or other managing employees of the licensee. See Tennessee Code 29-26-101
  • Passive investor: means an individual or entity that has an ownership interest in a licensee but does not directly participate in the day-to-day decision making or operations of the licensee. See Tennessee Code 29-26-101
  • Pleadings: Written statements of the parties in a civil case of their positions. In the federal courts, the principal pleadings are the complaint and the answer.
  • Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in a perceivable form. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
(b) A cause of action may not be asserted against an individual or entity other than the licensee, the licensee’s management company, the licensee’s managing employees, or an individual caregiver who provided direct health care services, whether an employee or independent contractor, unless, after a hearing on a motion for leave to amend, the court or arbitrator determines that there is sufficient evidence in the record or proffered by the claimant to establish a reasonable showing that:

(1) The individual or entity owed a duty of reasonable care to the claimant and that the individual or entity breached that duty; and
(2) The breach of that duty is a legal cause of loss, injury, death, or damage to the claimant.
(c) When determining the statute of limitations in a health care liability action, the date of the original pleading shall control regardless of whether there are amended pleadings or substituted or added parties.
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