New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Topic

Severity

Legal area

Court

6 Nov 2006

Wyman v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2006] NZACC 272
Court

District Court

The adverse consequence is the nerve tissue damage caused by the biopsy and not the subjective severity of pain; severity of pain cannot be used to reclassify the adverse consequence as rare under s34(3); evidence established increased pain occurs in approximately 10–30% of cases, so the statutory rarity threshold (<=1%) is not met and medical mishap cover fails.
11 Feb 1998

Lock v Accident Rehabilitation and Compensation Insurance Corporation

Citation

[1998] NZACC 23
Court

District Court

Expert evidence established the probability of this type of TPN extravasation causing skin sloughing is between about 5–10% (well above the 1% rarity threshold) and the injury did not meet statutory severity criteria; there was no evidence of failure to observe the required standard of care, therefore no medical error or medical mishap under s.5 and the appeal must be dismissed.