Tort/Negligence – Medical Malpractice — Wrongful Death – Jury Instructions – Proximate Cause – Foreseeability – ‘Injury & Death’

Atkinson v. Carolina Radiology Consultants, P.A. (Lawyers Weekly No. 12-16-0960, 6 pp.) (Linda M. McGee, J.) Appealed from Wilson County Superior Court (Marvin K. Blount III, J.) N.C. App. Unpub.

Holding: Over plaintiff’s objection, the trial court instructed the jury, “Proximate cause is a cause in which a natural and continuous sequence produces a person’s injury and death and is a cause which a reasonable prudent health care provider could have foreseen would probably produce such injury and death.” Since this instruction would hold defendants responsible only where defendant Clark could have foreseen the exact injury ultimately suffered by plaintiff, the instruction was contrary to prior opinions of our Supreme Court.

The trial court’s proximate cause instruction was erroneous, prejudicial, and requires remand for a new trial.