# Harris v. Miller

> Supreme Court of North Carolina · January 28, 1994 · 335 N.C. 379

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9584648

## Case

- **Full name:** HAYWOOD HARRIS, Administrator of the Estate of ETTA HARRIS v. GEORGE J. MILLER, M.D.
- **Court:** Supreme Court of North Carolina
- **Decided:** January 28, 1994
- **Citations:** 335 N.C. 379; 438 S.E.2d 731; 1994 N.C. LEXIS 16
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Meyer
- **Judges:** Exum, Meyer, Parker
- **Cited by:** 30 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9584648

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding "surgeons should no longer be presumed to enjoy the authoritative control of a master over all who assist merely because they are 'in charge' of the operation" and instead looking to respondeat superior and borrowed servant principles
- discussing history of doctrine and holding that surgeon is not vicariously liable for negligence of nurse anesthetist simply because the surgeon is "in charge” of the operation

## Opinion text

Justice Meyer
dissenting.
Believing that the release of the nurse-anesthetist releaséd Dr. Miller as well, I respectfully dissent. I dissented in the case relied upon by the majority, Yates v. New South Pizza Ltd., 330 N.C. 790, 796 , 412 S.E.2d 666, 670 , reh’g denied, 331 N.C. 292 , 417 S.E.2d 73 (1992), and was joined in my dissent by Chief Justice Exum, the writer of the majority opinion here, and Justice Whichard. I shall not here repeat the contents of that exhaustive dissent but will simply refer the reader thereto. I continue to believe that Yates was wrongly decided, and I do not consider it too late for this Court to reexamine its holding in that case, which was decided by the narrow margin of one vote.

---

Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9584648. Public record. Not legal advice.