Includes whereas clauses.
Enacts new GS 90-21.15B making the following applicable when a nurse acts at the discretion of a supervising health care provider during the course of health care treatment: (1) the nurse does not owe a separate duty of care to the patient, independent of the duty of care owed by the health care provider; (2) the nurse is not engaged in a collaborative process with joint responsibility as part of a health care team; (3) the primary duty of a nurse is to diligently execute the orders of a physician; and (4) the collaboration of a registered nurse with other supervising health care providers does not create an independent separate duty of care to the patient, unless the registered nurse acts independently of or departs from the supervision of a health care provider. Prohibits recovery from a nurse in a medical malpractice action on the sole grounds that the nurse owed a separate duty of care if the nurse was acting under the direction of a health care provider. Exempts nurses acting outside of the supervision of a health care provider.