• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • Store
  • ION Awards
  • Podcasts
  • Full Measure
    • Full Measure Cover Stories
  • Donate
  • Bestseller "Slanted"

Sharyl Attkisson

Untouchable Subjects. Fearless, Nonpartisan Reporting.

  • US
  • World
  • Business
  • Health
    • Vaccine, Medical links
    • Omicron Lab Origin
    • Covid-19 Origins
    • Covid-19 Natural Immunity
    • Covid-19 Vaccine Concerns Summary
    • Covid-19 Vaccine: 80 Common Adverse Events
  • The Censored
  • Special Investigations
    • Attkisson v. DOJ
    • Media Mistakes, Biden Era
    • Media Mistakes on Trump
    • Other investigations
      • Benghazi
      • "Collusion v. Trump" TL
      • Election 2020
      • Fake News
      • Fast & Furious
      • Obamacare
      • Obama Surveillance TL
      • Other investigations
      • Ukraine 'Sabotage' of Trump TL

NC court: Nurses liable for patient harm, even if result of doctors' orders

Dated: September 11, 2022 by Sharyl Attkisson 12 Comments

      

The following is an excerpt from Becker's Hospital Review.

Nurses in North Carolina can now be sued for patient harm that results from them following physicians' orders, the state Supreme Court ruled last month. 

The Aug. 19 ruling strikes down a 90-year-old precedent set by the 1932 case Byrd v. Marion General Hospital, which protected nurses from culpability for obeying and executing orders from a physician or surgeon, unless the order was obviously negligent. 

The North Carolina Supreme Court overturned this ruling in a 3-2 opinion as part of a separate case involving a young child who experienced permanent anoxic brain damage during an ablation procedure at a North Carolina hospital in 2010.

The ruling means the certified registered nurse anesthetist involved in the ablation could be held liable for the patient's harm. 

"Due to the evolution of the medical profession's recognition of the increased specialization and independence of nurses in the treatment of patients over the course of the ensuing ninety years since this Court's issuance of the Byrd opinion, we determine that it is timely and appropriate to overrule Byrd as it is applied to the facts of this case," Justice Michael Morgan wrote in the opinion. 

Read the full opinion here.


      
[the_ad id="17661"]

About Sharyl Attkisson

Emmy-Award Winning Investigative Journalist, New York Times Best Selling Author, Host of Sinclair's Full Measure

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lee says

    September 11, 2022 at 8:25 pm

    Well that ruling will send more nurses out of the field into other careers. Good luck finding stoolies to take the rap for a doctor's negligence.

    Reply
    • Tharpa says

      September 12, 2022 at 9:03 am

      I pretty much agree with what you say here. I don't know the details of the case, but if precedent already had an exception for doctor's orders which were obviously negligent, then this puts them in a bad position.

      Having said that, I think that striking nurses do not belong in the profession and should be fired so more suitable people can take their place.

      Reply
      • MZO says

        September 12, 2022 at 11:23 am

        Therpa.... You are a lay-person, obviously. Following a Drs orders is sacrocinst. The DR is giving the orders. Now we nurses are damned if we Do & Damned if we DO NOT !!! we NO LONGER have ANY protection from the law. RUN... FASTER !!

        Reply
  2. Kilroy says

    September 12, 2022 at 12:17 pm

    Every nurse I ever met thought they were perfect. They always โ€œknewโ€ more than all of the doctors.

    Reply
  3. Carol says

    September 12, 2022 at 1:15 pm

    When I worked in the field (stopped in 2018) the staffing ratios were unsafe. A med surg nurse could have 7 patients ( not counting the discharges and admissions which add even more stress) and she may not have a tech to help with the baths, Vital signs, walking, feeding. And hearing from nurses still in the field, it is worse.
    So easy to make a mistake, forget something or neglect checking on a patientโ€ฆall the while not taking breaks!

    Reply
  4. Paul Karch says

    September 12, 2022 at 3:26 pm

    This makes no sense. Nurses must follow doctor's orders except in cases where they know, even at their lower level of training, it is blatantly wrong. Then they should discuss it with the doctor. Then they still could refuse to carry out the order.

    Reply
    • Shelly says

      September 12, 2022 at 10:01 pm

      That means they can get fired for not carrying out the order or imprisoned for doing so. Lose-lose for nurses.

      Reply
  5. NurseMarde says

    September 12, 2022 at 11:46 pm

    This case was about an โ€œAdvance Practice Nurseโ€. A โ€œNurse Anesthetist โ€œ, who essentially is providing anesthesia- and SHOULD (in theory) be supervised by the MD. I hope the general duty โ€œNurseโ€ is not lumped into this. A good Nurse knows they do not know everything: and is required to frequently research diseases, drugs, etc. A Stateโ€™s Nurse Practice Act defines their scope of practice. I was one for 46 years- 2+ years in NC as a Critical Care RN. I have never stopped learning.

    Reply
  6. Mc10023 says

    September 13, 2022 at 1:04 pm

    Read the article carefully. It applies specifically to nurse anesthetists. These nurses are highly trained and should know better than to follow an unsafe doctors order. Still it is a bummer if a decision.

    Reply
  7. Colin Clausson says

    September 16, 2022 at 1:34 am

    How bout COVID protocols that (remdesivir, ventilators) that killed many.
    Was it nurses that gave the clot shot without informed consent.
    Looks like Doctors, CDC and big Pharma are shifting the blame to nurses.

    Reply
  8. Debbie says

    September 17, 2022 at 8:59 am

    Good start, Now Go Up to The Doctors and their superiors. Do Not Stop at the low hanging fruit. A little bit of research on the genicide jab and it would have never gone this far.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Coming Soon

The Bad Shirts: High-Quality, Wearable Humor

The Sharyl Attkisson Store

Buy Great, Original Products & Support Independent Journalism

Subscribe

Get the Latest Stories Straight to Your Inbox

SUBSCRIBE TO SHARYL’S RUMBLE CHANNEL


Follow Sharyl Attkisson

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube



Footer

Pages

  • Home
  • About
  • Podcast
  • Support
  • Contact

Sitemap

2ndary Pages

  • Full Measure Stations
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Newsletter
  • Returns & Refunds Policy

SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS

  • Attkisson v. DOJ/FBI
  • Benghazi
  • Election 2020
  • Fake News
  • Fast & Furious
  • Obamacare

Copyright © 2023 ยท Log in