Masthead
RALEIGH Larry D. Green is fed through a tube and passes his days and nights limp in a nursing home bed.
But at least no one mistakes him for dead.
It has been nearly five years since a car plowed into Green, injuring him so badly that a team of paramedics and Franklin County's medical examiner thought he was dead. Green was zipped into a body bag and chilled in a refrigerator before the medical examiner noticed a sign of life.
Green's family has been fighting for years to hold Franklin County officials accountable and make them pay for the limited life he now has.
Green is 34 and lives in a Wilson rest home with the aging. It's hard to know which part of what he endured robbed him of so much brain function.
"He needs care 24 hours a day," said Judith Vincent-Pope, an attorney from Cary who represents Green. "He's improved so little."
Green's family and court-appointed guardian have sued to recoup money for his long-term care. This summer, Franklin County officials settled their part of the lawsuit for $1 million. Paramedics from the town of Louisburg are still fighting the suit.
On Wednesday, an attorney for the state attorney general, representing medical examiner J.B. Perdue, argued before the state Court of Appeals that Perdue should be immune from liability because he was a state official. A Franklin County judge ruled this year that Perdue should face liability in state courts. North Carolina law typically gives broad protections to civil servants who make mistakes in the line of work.
"We don't think there's any evidence that he acted negligently," said Mabel Bullock, special deputy attorney general.
Perdue, 72, declined to comment when reached Wednesday. He resigned as Franklin County's medical examiner last year. He has been retired from his surgery practice for more than a decade and has let his medical license lapse.
Green was crossing U.S.401 about 9 p.m. on Jan. 24, 2005, when a vehicle hit him. A Louisburg paramedic found him face down in the road and checked for a pulse. He declared him dead and never tried to resuscitate him. When a paramedic from Franklin County arrived, the first paramedic asked him to check behind him for a pulse. The county paramedic said that his colleague's assessment was good enough for him and never checked for vital signs.
They called for Perdue, who had been the county's medical examiner for 30years. Green's attorney said Perdue never checked to see if Green was alive. Rather, Perdue began examining Green's injuries. He looked for bruises on his buttocks, checked his back and stuck his finger in a gaping wound in Green's head, trying to figure out how he died.
When Perdue opened Green's shirt to examine his chest, however, several emergency responders standing nearby saw Green breathing, according to the lawsuit. One paramedic asked Perdue whether Green was, in fact, breathing. Perdue explained that it was just air escaping the body.
Green was taken to the morgue in a body bag. There, while Perdue examined Green further, several other paramedics saw one of Green's eyes twitch. According to the lawsuit, they asked Perdue whether he was sure that Green was dead. Perdue said the eye-twitching was just a muscle spasm. The paramedic pressed him further.
"He chose to dismiss all of these observations from all of the other trained medical personnel," said Vincent-Pope, Green's attorney.
Green was then stored in a refrigerator for more than an hour. It wasn't until a state Highway Patrolman came to inspect Green's injuries that Perdue pulled him from the refrigerator and witnessed more eye twitching, the lawsuit said. He called for paramedics.
Vincent-Pope told Court of Appeals judges Wednesday that Perdue was so negligent his behavior should be considered malicious.
The Court of Appeals has not decided whether Perdue can be held liable in state court. Claims of negligence against state employees are typically heard by the State Industrial Commission. Awards there are capped; the most Green could recoup is $500,000.
Bills for Green's care have been covered by Medicaid, which pays only for limited amounts of therapy, Vincent-Pope said.
The settlement from Franklin County will be used to pay for additional therapy needed to help Green eat on his own and regain speech. The money is also needed to pay down bills he racked up during his long stay in the hospital after the accident.
"It's been a long journey," Vincent-Pope said.
