New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Topic

Medical mishap definition

Legal area

Court

8 Sept 1999

Atkinson v Accident Rehabilitation and Compensation Insurance Corporation

Citation

[1999] NZACC 247
Court

District Court

Appeal dismissed because, on the balance of probabilities, the evidence did not establish a causal link between the sub-optimal anaesthetic/aspiration event and the appellant's neurodevelopmental delay; statutory linking words do not relax the ordinary civil standard of proof.
21 Dec 1998

Te Whare v Accident Rehabilitation and Compensation Insurance Corporation

Citation

[1998] NZACC 275
Court

District Court

On the balance of probabilities the appellant failed to prove that the treatment (delay in IV access) causally produced greater impairment; even if causation were established the adverse consequence could not be regarded as 'rare' because severe disability is a common outcome of pneumococcal meningitis; therefore statutory elements of medical mishap (causation and rarity) were not made out and claim for medical misadventure fails.