Court Opinion

ID: 9575063
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:11:08.749175+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:47:52.819238
License: Public Domain

Justice FRYE
dissenting.
The question before the jury in this case was whether this child’s liver failure was induced by the anesthetics administered *105to her or by a viral infection. The death certificate supported the testimony of plaintiffs witnesses that the liver failure was induced by anesthesia. The majority concludes, correctly I think, that the trial judge erred by excluding this portion of the death certificate from the jury’s consideration. The majority then concludes, erroneously I believe, that the error was harmless. The death certificate was the crucial piece of evidence which would have supported plaintiff’s expert witnesses’ opinions that Amy’s death was the result of repeated improper exposures to the anesthetic Halothane. Had the jury known that the death certificate supported plaintiff’s view of the evidence, the jury might have ruled for plaintiff rather than defendants. Thus, keeping this information away from the jury denied the plaintiff a substantial right. N.C.G.S. § 1A-1, Rule 61 (1990). I dissent from the Court’s decision that the error was not prejudicial.