Pierce v Metro North Hospital and Health Service [2016] NSWSC 1559

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Pierce v Metro North Hospital and Health Service [2016] NSWSC 1559 Hearing dates: 16 –17 November; 19 – 20 November; 23 – 24 November; 26 – 27 November 2015 Date of orders: 03 November 2016 Decision date: 03 November 2016 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Campbell J Decision: My orders are: (1) Judgment for the plaintiff in the sum of $1,672,790.75; (2) The defendant to pay the plaintiff's costs; (3) Liberty to apply in respect of interest on past economic loss. Catchwords: TORT– medical negligence – plaintiff sufferer of epilepsy – where plaintiff a young person whose condition is by nature changeable – plaintiff underwent voluntary testing to determine whether she was a candidate for surgical intervention–test involved allowed seizure to occur in order to measure and record it – existence of duty of care accepted–breach of that duty of care admitted by Hospital by allowing seizure to continue for extended period of time

TORT– medical negligence–causation– circumstantial case –whether plaintiff's condition worsened following breach – where plaintiff's condition debilitating prior to breach– where no definitive medical knowledge exists to measure any damage sustained or change in severity or not of condition

TORT– medical negligence – damages – where condition of plaintiff poor prior to breach – where manner in which breach argued to have worsened her condition similar to how her condition would otherwise present if its natural progression as a disease was to worsen – evidence of worsening of condition prior to breach– whether plaintiff worse off because of breach