Court rejects $400,000 negligence claim against GP

NSW Supreme Court judge Christine Adamson said the patient, James Peden, faced an early end to life after being diagnosed with sacral chordoma, a rare malignant bone tumour that often presented late with symptoms of pressure on other parts of the body.

But Justice Adamson said the case against Mr Peden’s GP, Newcastle-based Dr Michael Ferguson, whom Mr Peden first consulted in 1988, could only succeed if the patient proved that in a September 2007 visit he had complained of “altered sensation and feelings of electric shocks in his legs”.

Dr Ferguson, described as a busy sole practitioner, agreed