White v. Hunsinger

In White v. Hunsinger, 88 N.C. App. 382, 363 S.E.2d 203 (1988) the plaintiff's decedent was injured in an automobile accident. Id. at 383, 363 S.E.2d at 204. The defendant physician kept the decedent at the hospital overnight and transferred him to a neurosurgeon at a different hospital the following day. The decedent died shortly thereafter. Id. The plaintiff's expert stated in an affidavit that "the decedent's chances of survival would have been increased if he had been transferred to a neurosurgeon earlier." Id. at 384, 363 S.E.2d at 205. The Court affirmed summary judgment for the defendant, holding that the plaintiff's evidence was speculative and insufficient to establish causation: The plaintiff could not prevail at trial by merely showing that a different course of action would have improved the decedent's chances of survival. Proof of proximate cause in a malpractice case requires more than a showing that a different treatment would have improved the patient's chances of recovery. . . . The plaintiff has failed . . . to forecast any evidence showing that had the defendant referred the decedent to a neurosurgeon when the decedent was first brought to the hospital, the decedent would not have died. The connection or causation between the negligence and injury must be probable, not merely a remote possibility. Id. at 386-87, 363 S.E.2d at 206.