Neither case assists them. Pangbum simply holds that third party victims of a wrongly released mental patient may sue the patient’s health care providers for negligent release. Pang-bum, 326 S.E.2d at 367. A claim for negligent release is not a claim for medical malpractice. In Mozingo, although the North Carolina Court of Appeals did permit a plaintiff to pursue a medical malpractice claim against a doctor with whom he had no personal doctor-patient relationship, the plaintiff himself was a patient allegedly afforded inadequate medical care, not the victim of a patient afforded inadequate medical care. See Mozingo, 400 S.E.2d at 751-53; see also Webb v. Nash Hosps., Inc., 133 N.C.App. 636, 516 S.E.2d 191, 194 (N.C.Ct.App.1999) (considering, but finding no facts 9 (N.C.1925) (<HOLDING>). For these reasons, the district court
holding that a patients settlement of a prior action brought against him by doctors for payment of a bill did not bar medical malpractice action against doctors holding that provision would not be enforced due to that fact that the doctorpatient relationship is special and entitled to unique protection holding that doctors may limit the extent of their responsibility to patients by narrowing the scope of the doctorpatient relationship holding that doctors do not have to accept patients holding that doctors conduct toward patient that does not come within penumbra of doctorpatient relationship cannot form basis for malpractice action