New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Topic

Use of statistical evidence

Legal area

Court

28 Aug 2023

CHALMERS v ACCIDENT COMPENSATION CORPORATION [2023] NZHC 2333

Citation

[2023] NZHC 2333
Court

High Court

The High Court upheld the District Court's application of s 32(1)(c): on a holistic, case-specific assessment taking into account clinical reporting, the patient's underlying condition and cautious use of statistics, the post-operative paraplegia was within the normal range of outcomes of the surgical treatment and therefore an ordinary consequence; predictability or prior warning of risk does not automatically decide the issue but is a relevant factor to be weighed.
27 Mar 2003

Bloxham v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2003] NZACC 45
Court

District Court

On the balance of probabilities the appellant failed to establish that the paraplegia was caused by the surgery and the available evidence indicates the incidence of paraplegia in Type A aortic dissection and its repair exceeds the 1% guideline for a 'rare adverse consequence', therefore no cover for medical misadventure is warranted.