Ringelstein v Metro North Hospital and Health Service
[2025] QCA 188 · Bond and Doyle JJA and Crowley J
Cheryl Ringelstein had a hysterectomy and related surgery at Caboolture Hospital in 2004. Serious complications followed, including fistulae, ongoing urinary incontinence, dependence on a stoma, repeated surgeries, and significant depression. The ordinary deadline to sue for negligence had passed around 2007. She only learned that her care may have been negligent when she obtained expert medical reports in October 2023. She had tried to get legal help in 2008 and 2010 but could not afford the fees, and her health and finances remained poor for years. A judge refused to extend the limitation period, finding she had not taken all reasonable steps to investigate her claim sooner. The Court of Appeal disagreed. It held that, given her demoralised mental state, lack of money, and the absence of any earlier evidence of negligence, it was reasonable for her not to keep approaching law firms. The court extended the time for her to start proceedings to 23 June 2023, allowing her claim to go ahead, and ordered the hospital to pay her appeal costs.
Incident & injury
Complications following total abdominal hysterectomy and posterior repair, including rectovaginal fistula and vesico-vaginal fistula, alleged to have arisen from deficiencies in surgical and post-operative care
- Body regions
- Abdomen / pelvis, Abdominal/pelvic, Genitourinary, Psychiatric
- Diagnoses
- Rectovaginal fistula, Vesico-vaginal fistula, Urinary incontinence, Major depression
- Incident date
- 15 June 2004
- Location
- Caboolture Hospital
Quick facts
- Date of judgment
- 10 October 2025
- Claim type
- PIPA Medical Negligence
- Proceeding
- Appeal
- Plaintiff outcome
- Successful
- Plaintiff age at injury
- ~47 (inferred)
- Occupation
- series of jobs not requiring particular qualifications; finished education in year 10 Not stated
Outcome
Appeal allowed. The Court of Appeal held that the appellant had taken all reasonable steps in her circumstances to ascertain the material fact of decisive character (expert opinion on negligence) before the relevant date, and extended the limitation period to 23 June 2023 to allow her medical negligence claim to proceed.
Key issues
Appeal
This decision was the subject of a subsequent appeal: [2025] QSC 75
Ringelstein v Metro North Hospital and Health Service [2025] QCA 188
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