New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

New Zealand Case Law

Antenatal care

  • 17 Apr 2015

    Buckley v Accident Compensation Corporation

    Citation
    [2015] NZACC 84
    Court
    District Court

    Appeal dismissed: on the balance of probabilities the baby's hypoxic brain injury was caused by non-treatment factors (umbilical cord compression likely from a knot and placental infection/inflammation, compounded by rapid labour), and expert evidence established that neither induction at 38 weeks nor marginally earlier Ventouse delivery would probably have prevented the injury; therefore the injury does not meet the statutory definition of a treatment injury under s32.

  • 18 Nov 2005

    Zhang v Accident Compensation Corporation

    Citation
    [2005] NZACC 345
    Court
    District Court

    Although the appellant suffers brain damage manifesting as developmental delay, expert opinion and clinical records establish there was no medical error causally linked to that injury: maternal thyroid function was normal when tested and maternal hypothyroidism in the relevant period would not account for the injury; neonatal bilirubin levels never reached thresholds known to cause bilirubin encephalopathy and phototherapy was appropriately applied; there is no evidence of transient congenital hypothyroidism. Therefore the statutory causation requirement for medical misadventure is not met an…