A resident of Charlotte, North Carolina is challenging a state law that caps legal awards for medical malpractice cases at $500,000.
In 2015, Adrienne Harris underwent surgery at Carolinas Medical Center-Main after she was diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy and doctors recommended the removal of her fallopian tube. According to a lawsuit she recently filed, the surgeons injured Harris’s small intestine, leaving a small hole that led to leakage and then sepsis.
The injury wasn’t caught right away, and her body starting reacting to the problem, leaving Harris in agony.
Harris endured multiple follow-up surgeries, and gangrene set in on her hands and feet, leading to amputation. In addition to the loss of her extremities, the lawsuit states Harris can no longer process food she’s ingested by mouth.
The lawsuit filed in Mecklenburg County Superior Court names the hospital’s healthcare system and several physicians as defendants. The legal complaint is also leveled against members of the North Carolina state legislature, because the governing body passed a law setting a maximum award of $500,000 for non-economic damages in malpractice cases.
Presumably, the state will be required to justify the cap in court as Harris’s legal team argues the financial limit infringes on her right to seek justice.
“She’s lost her ability to live a normal life. She’s lost the ability to care for her children,” Charles Monnett, an attorney representing Harris, told WSOC-TV. “Why should the politicians in Raleigh be allowed to tell her what that is worth.”
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