New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Medical error

Legal area

Court

7 Dec 2017

Q v ACCIDENT COMPENSATION CORPORATION [2017] NZHC 3024

Citation

[2017] NZHC 3024
Court

High Court

Judge Powell lawfully exercised fact‑finding by preferring contemporaneous specialist reports over a belatedly changed opinion; Dr Broadbent's 2014 conclusions were discounted because they conflicted with earlier reports and contemporaneous records, lacked new evidence or explanation, and therefore did not raise a question of law warranting special leave under s162; application dismissed.
16 Nov 2015

Strickland v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2015] NZACC 348
Court

District Court

The 1 November 2012 letter was not a reviewable decision because it merely recorded that the 5 October 2012 claim duplicated an earlier, finally decided claim; consequently there was no deemed decision to review and, independently, no extenuating circumstances were proved to excuse late lodgement given extensive contact with the Corporation and the appellant's choice to pursue other avenues; appeal dismissed.
30 Sept 2015

Q v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2015] NZACC 288
Court

District Court

Weighing contemporaneous specialist reports against later, inconsistent criticism, the court found no proven failure to observe the requisite standard of care nor a rare adverse consequence of treatment; expert evidence did not establish on the balance of probabilities that treatment caused the appellant's cerebral palsy, therefore the appeal is dismissed.
11 Sept 2015

DI-GIANDOMENICO v ACCIDENT COMPENSATION CORPORATION [2015] NZHC 2193

Citation

[2015] NZHC 2193
Court

High Court

Appeal allowed because the District Court applied too stringent a causation test inconsistent with Ambros; there was at least a possible causal link per expert evidence and the matter is remitted to the District Court to reconsider causation solely on medical mishap grounds including obtaining evidence on the rarity requirement (<=1%) while noting no medical error was established.
21 Aug 2012

Gibbs v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2012] NZACC 287
Court

District Court

Although osteomyelitis pre-existed treatment, the accepted medical error (the change and cessation of antibacterial treatment in June–July 1999) caused a materially greater injury — specifically the collapse/destruction of the C4 vertebra and the neurological deficit in the left arm — and those consequences constitute personal injuries caused by medical error within the meaning of the relevant statutes; ACC's refusal of cover was therefore unlawful and must be quashed and replaced with a grant of cover.
2 Mar 2011

Larkin v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2011] NZACC 60
Court

District Court

Medical mishap was not established because the exacerbation from delayed treatment could not be shown to be a rare consequence of the monitoring/delivery process (<1% threshold). However, on the balance of probabilities the delay in arranging and effecting delivery constituted medical error and was probably a significant contributing cause to the severity of the appellant's cerebral palsy; accordingly the review decision is quashed in that respect and the appellant is entitled to ACC cover for cerebral palsy.
17 Jun 2009

Estate of Ian Clarke v Accident Compensation Corporation and Waitemata District Health Board

Citation

[2009] NZACC 110
Court

District Court

Appellant failed to establish, on the balance of probabilities, that the death resulted from medical error or from a medical mishap meeting the statutory rarity and severity criteria; independent specialist evidence supported that treatment met accepted standards and the fatal events were attributable to the underlying disease process and embolic infarction with hemorrhagic transformation rather than negligent treatment, therefore ACC's decision to decline cover is upheld.
4 Jul 2008

Roborgh v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2008] NZACC 147
Court

District Court

Leave to appeal was granted because the case raises significant questions of law about the interpretation of medical mishap and medical error and their interaction with causation principles from Ambros, and those legal questions merit High Court determination despite a weak factual basis on causation.
30 Jun 2008

Fuller v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2008] NZACC 134
Court

District Court

On the totality of credible specialist evidence, and weighing reports from surgeons who examined the claimant, the court found that the femoral anteversion, leg lengthening and increased offset combined to produce a rare and severe anterior capsular contracture as a consequence of properly given treatment, satisfying the statutory medical mishap test; no medical error was established, therefore cover is granted for those consequences and the respondent's and review decision are set aside.
16 Jun 2008

Executors of the Estate of Tangiora v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2008] NZACC 120
Court

District Court

Judge found that at handover Dr Vahdati-Bolouri failed to inform the incoming registrar of the full haematological findings and that further blood film results were pending; that omission breached the standard of care reasonably to be expected of a registered health professional in the circumstances and constituted medical error; on the balance of probabilities earlier administration of antibiotics (once the haematological indicators were known) would likely have altered the outcome, establishing causation; therefore the ACC decisions declining cover were quashed and cover for medical misadve…