rom April to September of 1973. She told the new psychiatrist of the treatment and relationship between the appellee and herself. She was advised not to continue in psychoanalysis with the appellee, and that treatment of that nature could not be beneficial so long as she continued a sexual relationship with the appellee. She was referred to still another psychoanalyst whom she saw three or four times during the summer of 1973 and to whom she also related her experiences with the appellee. She was advised to continue analysis but with a female physician. She continued analysis with the female doctor from September, 1973 until August, 1976. In the meantime, appellant testified, she continued to see the appellee's at his office through the summer of 1975 and psychoanalysis and sexual activity continued at the appellee's office until that time. Appellant stopped treatment with the female physician in August of 1976 and filed suit against the appellee on March 7, 1977.
Maryland Code, Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article, Section 5-101 (1980) provides "a civil action at law shall be filed within three years from the date it accrues...." The statute of limitations as adopted by the Legislature of the State of Maryland reflects what is deemed an adequate *206 period of time in which a "person of ordinary diligence" should bring his action. Walko Corp. v. Burger Chef Systems, Inc., 281 Md. 207, 378 A.2d 1100 (1977). The legislative policy underlying statutes of limitation include the encouragement of promptness in instituting actions, the suppression of stale or fraudulent claims, and most of all, the providing of the elements of fairness to defendants. Judge Levine, quoting from Chase Securities Corp. v. Donaldson, 325 U.S. 304, 314, 65 S.Ct. 1137 (1945), in Walko, supra, said:
Statutes of limitation find their justification in necessity and convenience rather than logic. They represent expedience, rather than principles. They are practical and pragmatic devices to spare the courts from litigation of stale claims, and