More than 10 years ago, a North Carolina man was pronounced dead and locked in the morgue–but it turned out he was still alive. This weekend, the state industrial commission awarded the man and his family $425,000 in what has to stand as one of the most ghastly errors ever committed by a medical examiner anywhere in this country.
Larry Green was walking along a street in Franklin County, north of Raleigh, when a speeding car hit him. When emergency workers arrived at the scene, they found Green face down on the pavement and bleeding from a head wound. They didn’t initially find any vital signs. Medical examiner J. B. Perdue arrived to inspect the body. Eight witnesses saw Green’s chest and abdomen move. However, according to court documents, Perdue dismissed it as “air escaping the body” and ordered Green’s body sent to the morgue. Witnesses at the morgue saw Green’s right eyelid twitch several times–which Perdue dismissed as an involuntary muscle spasm. Later that night, Perdue pulled the body out of the refrigerator so a state trooper could get some information. It was only then that he realized Green was still alive.
Green got very lucky. He was left with severe brain damage, and is unable to walk or talk. He has spent the last decade in a nursing home, and faces over $650,000 in medical bills. In 2009, Green’s family won a $1 million settlement with Franklin County, the local EMS agency, and two of the attending paramedics. A year earlier, they filed a complaint with the state Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the state’s medical examiners.
The case was heard by the industrial commission, which handles legal action against state officials and agencies. While North Carolina law normally gives broad protection to state officials who make mistakes in the line of duty, a DHHS spokesman said that the settlement “avoids the emotional toll and expense of a lengthy trial.” To my mind, that’s a fancy way of saying that the state knew this was a trial it couldn’t win. I have to admit, I was stunned that this case took so long to resolve–and even more so that Green got so little, given that he will likely need constant care for years to come. However, Charlotte attorney Bob Bollinger thinks that there was likely some question about whether the bulk of Green’s injuries were caused by the original accident or by Perdue’s missteps. He also thinks that if Green is getting Medicaid, which cares for the disabled, taxpayers are already footing the bill for his care.
While there may have been some doubt as to whether Perdue could be held legally responsible for Green’s ordeal, there is no real-world doubt that his actions contributed to Green’s near-death. Despite this, Perdue, who stepped down in 2007, remains unrepentant. He said that “ambulance-chasing lawyers” blame him for what happened to Green. Incredibly, he was never disciplined, and longtime chief medical examiner John Butts maintains that Perdue did everything he was legally required to do.
Last spring, I wrote at length about the flaws in North Carolina’s medical examiner system. Among other things, the state’s medical examiners aren’t required to get any specialized training. But any layman would know that a moving chest and twitching eyelids are signs that someone is still alive. To my mind, this case proves just how badly broken North Carolina’s medical examiner system has become. Even allowing for the fact that this state was mostly rural as late as the 1980s, it’s clear the system hasn’t grown with the state. Hopefully it won’t take another Larry Green for changes to be made.
