The North Carolina Court of Appeals has upheld a claim against a medical doctor for the disclosure of mammography films to an expert witness hired by his patient’s former physician. The patient, in a prior suit, had sued her former doctor for failing to diagnose her breast cancer. The patient lost her case against her former doctor, the defendant in the medical malpractice case arising from an alleged failure to diagnose breast cancer.
The patient then filed a malpractice action against a radiologist who released her mammogram x-rays to an expert witness for the former doctor in connection with the prior malpractice action. The only claim against the defendant radiologist who released the mammogram x-rays to the expert witness was that he released these x-rays without authorization. There was no allegation that the radiologist committed any malpractice in connection with his performing medical services for the patient. The trial court had dismissed the claim against the radiologist. The patient appealed to the North Carolina Court of Appeals which upheld the claim.
Excerpted from InjuryBoard.com.
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