Patient awarded $1.4m due to MD’S negligence

He went to the hospital emergency to get stitches for a cut to his finger but suffered a brain injury in a fall while he was being treated.

Graham Mair, who was 17 at the time of his visit to Chilliwack General Hospital nearly eight years ago, has been awarded $1.4 million in damages due to a doctor’s negligence.

Mair, whose former surname was Leon, was working with a chisel at a window manufacturer when he cut his left thumb and middle finger.

He was taken to hospital and received an injection of an anesthetic from Dr. Kimphry Michael Tu and then led into a treatment room where there was a sink with a high-pressure water supply.

Tu turned on the cold water faucet and told Mair to hold his hand under the water, intending to aid in the cleaning of the wound, prior to suturing.

The doctor then left Mair in the room unattended and while he was absent, Mair fainted, striking his head on the floor.

In a ruling released Thursday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Saunders found that Tu’s actions in treating his patient to be negligent.

The judge noted the emergency department was busy on the afternoon in question and that Tu was confronted by a number of complex cases. But he said he was not persuaded the type of flushing procedure Mair was left to undertake at the sink, in a standing position, was required since the wound was already clean.

“The evidence establishes that Dr. Tu unnecessarily exposed Mr. Mair to an unquantifiable, but nevertheless real and foreseeable increased risk of harm by leaving him unattended in a standing position, very soon after the administration of a painful stimulus.”

The judge said the plaintiff, whose testimony he found to be honest and forthright, suffered a complicated mild traumatic brain injury.

He said Mair suffers considerable problems with organization, planning, concentration and memory.

Mair’s emotions have become stunted and his personality has changed as a result of the injuries, he added.

While Mair was not crippled, he is in the “unhappy” position of having a significant degree of disability and awareness of his disability and its impact on himself and others, said the judge.

“His injury is profound. It is permanent. It will affect every aspect of his life — his marriage, his work, his social life, and — should he and his wife have children, which they both desire — his ability to parent.”

The judge awarded damages of $200,000 for pain and suffering, $1.25 million for loss of earning capacity and $10,000 for cost of future care. Mair could not be reached for comment.

David Pilley, Tu’s lawyer, said his client was disappointed in the ruling and pointed out that it was not a case where there was a medical decision made poorly or a diagnosis that had gone wrong. He said many emergency physicians in B.C. do exactly what Dr. Tu did.