Rodgers v Chinsee
[2024] QDC 55 · Rosengren DCJ
A woman who had undergone four breast augmentation procedures performed by a cosmetic doctor between 2017 and 2018 wanted to sue him for medical negligence. Her injuries included scarring and psychological harm such as depression and anxiety. The problem was that the usual three-year deadline for bringing such a claim had already passed when she filed her claim in late 2023. She asked the court to extend the deadline, arguing she only realised she might have a negligence case when an expert plastic surgeon's report in October 2023 suggested the doctor had failed to manage complications properly and had wrongly reused an implant. The court agreed that this expert opinion was a key new fact she could not reasonably have known earlier, and that there was enough evidence of a possible claim and no serious unfairness to the doctor. The court extended the deadline, allowing her claim to proceed. This was a procedural decision; no damages were assessed.
Incident & injury
Alleged medical negligence in the performance and post-operative management of four breast augmentation surgical procedures, including failure to diagnose post-surgical seromas and reuse of an implant
- Body regions
- Chest / thorax, Breast, Psychiatric
- Diagnoses
- Scarring, Depression, Anxiety, Shock
- Incident date
- 14 August 2018
Quick facts
- Date of judgment
- 22 April 2024
- Claim type
- PIPA Medical Negligence
- Proceeding
- Interlocutory
- Plaintiff outcome
- Successful
- Plaintiff age at injury
- Occupation
- Casual sales assistant at Bed Bath N' Table Sales Worker
Outcome
The court granted the applicant's application under s 31 of the Limitation of Actions Act 1974 (Qld) to extend the limitation period until 30 November 2023, finding that the inferences of negligence drawn from an expert report obtained in October 2023 were material facts of a decisive character not within her earlier means of knowledge.
Key issues
Rodgers v Chinsee [2024] QDC 55
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