Medical negligence settlements
in North Carolina.

Dr. Hayes planned a home birth for his patient and told her not to worry as her pregnancy went past 43 weeks, even as she developed fever and intense pain. Her baby died before delivery. Unknown to her, in 2015 he had signed a Medical Board consent order admitting substandard care of four patients whose babies died, and agreeing to refer any patient reaching 42 weeks. The jury awarded $7,500,000 for noneconomic damages, the judge reduced it to the cap, and the Court of Appeals affirmed; she had not argued the gross negligence exception.

In 2010, when Brittany Cottle was 14, an orthopedist at Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic performed spine surgery and a fusion although an MRI showed only minimal disc desiccation. The family alleged the clinic kept him on despite colleagues’ warnings. They sued in 2017, more than four years after her last surgery in 2012. The Supreme Court held the claim against the clinic was a medical malpractice action and barred by the repose statute, calling the facts “deeply troubling.”