Court Opinion

ID: 9590798
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:58:28.749699+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:52:35.449069
License: Public Domain

Judge COZORT
concurring in part and dissenting in part.
I concur with all of the majority opinion except for that portion which vacates the trial court’s order of summary judgment for relief as it relates to lack of informed consent. In my opinion, the trial court was correct in granting summary judgment for the defendant on that issue.
*528The majority holds there is no evidence that the action of defendant in obtaining the consent of plaintiff was in accordance with the standards of practice among members of the same health care profession with similar training and experience situated in the same or similar communities. I disagree.
Defendant testified in his deposition that he provided plaintiff, prior to the operation, with a booklet entitled, “What You and Your Family Should Know About Gastric Operations For the Treatment of Obesity.” That booklet described the development of the procedure, how it works, and, among other things, the risks involved with the surgery. Plaintiff testified in her deposition that she received the book from defendant, read it, discussed it with her family, and made the decision to have the surgery with awareness of the risks involved in the procedure. In his deposition, defendant testified that he was of the opinion that his treatment and care of plaintiff in the performance of the first surgical procedure was consistent with the standard of practice of the specialty of general surgery in Iredell County. I believe this evidence is sufficient to meet defendant’s burden, on summary judgment, that his actions in obtaining the consent of plaintiff were in accordance with the standards of practice of the same health care profession with similar training and experience in the same or similar communities. With plaintiff offering no evidence to the contrary, I believe the trial court was correct in granting summary judgment for defendant on that issue.