Liberal Majority on NC Supreme Court Ramps up Healthcare Costs Amid Pandemic | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    Raleigh, NC     The radical liberal majority on the North Carolina Supreme Court sided with their trial lawyer donors against healthcare providers fighting the scourge of COVID-19 in their decision in DeSilva v. WakeMed. In yet another example of a liberal activist court run amuck, the liberal majority rewrote the rules of evidence and weakened the established burden of proof needed to hold medical professionals liable for malpractice.

    Last week's decision from the liberal majority weakens the requirements for medical "expert" witnesses and broadened the scope of liability for healthcare providers in medical malpractice suits. This particular case involved a woman who had to be admitted to the hospital with an infection. The doctors prescribed antibiotics with a tiny chance of a negative interaction with her medications. After being released from the hospital, she began rehab, five days after leaving rehab she suffered a foot injury leading to a hospitalization where she sadly succumbed to pneumonia. After her death, the executor of her will filed a medical malpractice suit against the hospital alleging that a complication with the medication led to the foot injury, and the foot injury led to deadly pneumonia.

    One of the flaw in the plaintiff's case was that their sole medical "expert" witness did not meet the requirements under the rules of evidence. The plaintiff's "expert" did not regularly practice medicine in a hospital as the rules required prior to this ruling. Their ruling also weakened the burden of proof required to link a causal chain of events to malpractice claims, increasing the risk to physicians for actions they take, which now may be completely unrelated to the doctor's actions.

    "The ultra liberal majority has significantly weakened protections for physicians against frivolous lawsuits," said NCGOP Spokesman Tim Wigginton. "This attack on healthcare workers by the radical justices is a significant blow against our frontline warriors fighting COVID-19. Their reckless actions that benefit their donors over North Carolinians' safety show why we need the Right Justices to prevail this November."

    While this medical malpractice case may seem like a wonky issue only impacting medical community, given the global pandemic underway, this ruling adversely affects every North Carolinian. The liberal majority's actions significantly weakened the protection against frivolous medical malpractice cases, which is likely to become a significant issue as litigation follows the COVID-19 pandemic.

    This ruling underscores the importance of electing judges who will uphold the rule of law instead of the current majorities' preference for writing their own.

• Contact: Tim Wigginton
•     communications@ncgop.org