North Carolina Senate Bill May Give Immunity To Medical Malpractice Claims

Mothers in North Carolina are urging the state's legislators to vote against a bill that would make doctors immune to medical malpractice claims that occur in the emergency room.

Heather Boone took her seven-month-old son, Ethan, to the ER after she noticed he was burning with a fever. After a brief examination by an ER physician, she was told that he had a virus and was sent home. After he did not get any better, Boone took him to another ER, however. By that time, it was too late. Ethan was diagnosed with a meningococcal infection. After his first visit to the ER, Ethan was not given any antibiotics, so by the time Ethan's mother took him to the second ER, his infection had advanced so quickly that he had to have both arms and legs amputated.

Last week, Heather Boone wrote a letter to the members of the North Carolina legislature telling them her story and urging them to re-consider the vote on the bill. Renee Hazelton took her son to an ER located in North Carolina. A physician told Hazelton that her son had a minor abrasion to his carotid artery and was sent home without treatment. Her son suffered a stroke several hours later.

Senate Bill 33 would give hospitals and ER doctors complete immunity when they commit malpractice like this, says the NC Advocates for Justice. Those sponsoring this bill are: Senators Tom Apodaca, Harry Brown and Bob Rucho.

According to Dick Taylor, CEO of the NC Advocates for Justice, "Under this bill, hospitals can provide negligent care, which every other doctor in North Carolina agrees is malpractice, but still have complete immunity.". "They take no responsibility at all for their actions. How is that fair?"

According to Taylor, thousands of patients die every year from medical malpractice. SB 33 not only does nothing to encourage doctors to practice safer medicine, but may actually harm patients by putting them in danger which is why the NC Advocates for Justice and other citizens like Boone and Hazelton oppose it.

Susan Pierce, a nursing professor at the UNC School of Nursing, commented: "I cannot understand why legislators would seek to nullify the duty of doctors and nurses to meet professionally established standards of care. That undermines medical and nursing ethics, and puts patients in danger."

According to a recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that 4,000 patients die and 5,700 patients are permanently injured in North Carolina hospitals every year because of preventable medical mistakes.