The North Carolina Court of Appeals has ruled against Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., finding it intentionally disregarded its own records in refusing to pay disability compensation to a nurse who injured her back while transferring a patient, according to an Asheville Citizen-Times report.
The court overturned a 2010 ruling by the state’s industrial commission that Mission acted reasonably in denying nurse Terry Cawthorn’s claim. Ms. Cawthorn injured her back in Feb. 2008 when she helped transfer a patient from a gurney to a hospital bed.
The court said the hospital must pay attorney fees to Ms. Cawthorn as well as disability benefits.
Mission’s director of marketing, Janet Moore, said she is unsure whether the ruling will be appealed the state’s Supreme Court.
Read the Asheville Citizen-Times report on Mission Hospital.
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