The New South Wales Supreme Court (NSWSC) has found that a doctor did not breach his duty of care in his diagnosis of the presence of a plantar wart instead of melanoma in the deceased’s foot.
The Court accepted that at the times the treating doctors saw the lesion on the deceased’s foot from 3 September 2009 up to and including 11 February 2011, it had the appearance of a plantar wart and that a melanoma, if present, was not discernible by the exercise of reasonable care on the part of the doctor [103].
Although the doctor’s note-making was found to be inadequate, it was not a precaution that should be taken to prevent a risk of harm, nor was it causal of the damage suffered by the deceased [124].
The expert evidence supported a conclusion that the doctor acted in a manner that was widely accepted by peer professional opinion as competent professional practice [125].
Further, the plaintiff was also unable to discharge her onus of establishing causation [128 – 137]
The decision in Coote v Kelly [2016] NSWSC 1447 is here.
