Hypotheticals by Manny Wood Published in the Coffs Coast Advocate on 27 July 2019.
Allan attended his General Practitioner complaining of a painful, darkly pigmented lesion on the sole of his right foot. The doctor diagnosed the lesion as a plantar wart and administered cryotherapy.
Over the next two years, Allan was treated for a plantar wart by several doctors, before a biopsy revealed the lesion was in fact a malignant melanoma. Distressed about the news, Allan underwent urgent removal of the lesion. Unfortunately however, the melanoma had metastasised by this stage and Allan was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma.
Allan commenced proceedings in the Supreme Court of NSW against the practitioners for medical negligence in failing to diagnose the lesion as a melanoma during any of the consultations.
In order to succeed in his action, Allan had to prove that the doctors overlooked the lesion’s irregular pigmentation and failed to consider a melanoma as an alternative diagnosis. Further, Allan had to demonstrate the lesion had developed into a melanoma at the time of his last appointment and that it had not metastasised by that stage.
The Court held the doctors’ clinical notes made no reference to the lesion displaying irregular characteristics during any consultation. Allan’s description of the lesion being darkly pigmented was therefore irreconcilable with each doctor’s independent set of clinical notes. In the absence of evidence, the Court found the practitioners could not have been expected to diagnose a melanoma without any physical signs.
The Court also held that expert opinion failed to prove, on the balance of probabilities, that the melanoma was present but not yet metastasised at the time of Allan’s last doctor’s consultation. Accordingly, Allan was unable to establish medical negligence and was ordered to pay the other side’s costs.
If you would like Manny to address a particular legal issue, send your request to manny.wood@ticliblaxland.com.au or call him on (02) 6648 7487.
