North Carolina § 8-45 - 5. Statements, releases, etc., obtained from persons in shock or under the influence of drugs; fraud presumed.

§ 8-45. 5. Statements, releases, etc., obtained from persons in shock or under the influence of drugs; fraud presumed.

Any oral or written statement, waiver, release, receipt, or other representation of any kind by any person made or executed while a patient in any hospital and taken by any person in connection with any type of insurance coverage on or for the benefit of said patient which shall have been taken while such patient was in shock or appreciably under the influence of any drug, including drugs given primarily for sedation, shall be deemed to have been obtained by means of fraud, duress or undue influence on the part of the person or persons taking same, and the same shall be incompetent and inadmissible in evidence to prove or disprove any fact or circumstance relating to any claim for which any insurance company may be liable under any policy of insurance issued to, or which may indemnify or provide coverage or protection for the person making or executing any such statement or other instrument while a patient in a hospital, nor may any such person making or executing the same be examined or cross-examined in regard thereto. History (1967, c. 928.) Legal Periodicals. - For note on avoidance of releases in personal injury cases in North Carolina, see 5 Wake Forest Intra. L. Rev. 359 (1969).