{"id":115594,"date":"2025-09-03T12:04:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T12:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/115594\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T12:04:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T12:04:10","slug":"michael-stewart-entitled-to-further-compensation-over-queensland-hospital-negligence-court-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/115594\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Stewart entitled to further compensation over Queensland hospital negligence, court finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Queensland man who was injured due to negligent care at Redcliffe Hospital has won a High Court appeal to receive financial compensation to live in his own home, in what lawyers are calling a “landmark moment”.<\/p>\n

In 2016 Michael Stewart went to the hospital, north of Brisbane, with nausea and abdominal pain, and as a result of negligence experienced numerous complications including bowel perforations, sepsis, cardiac arrest and a stroke.<\/p>\n

The then 63-year-old was left with brain damage, paralysis, and a colostomy bag, and will require lifelong assisted care.<\/p>\n

Metro North Hospital and Health Service (MNHHS) has accepted liability for the negligent care.<\/p>\n

Before the hospital visit, Mr Stewart was living in a house with his brother and dog at Margate and was able to have his son Jesse stay with him.<\/p>\n

\"Grey-haired<\/p>\n

Michael Stewart will now be able to be cared for at home rather than a care home. (Supplied, Carol Schwarzman)<\/p>\n

As a result of his injuries he was placed in an aged care home, where he is unable to have his son and dog live with him, and has suffered deteriorating physical and mental health.<\/p>\n

Previous win<\/p>\n

In 2024, Mr Stewart was awarded $2.19 million to cover his expenses at the nursing home with an external care assistant and more frequent therapy and exercise.<\/p>\n

But it was not enough to allow him to live independently at home, so Mr Stewart appealed the payout figure in the High Court of Australia<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Man<\/p>\n

Michael Stewart with his son Jesse, before he was injured while being treated at a Queensland hospital. (Supplied, Maurice Blackburn Lawyers)<\/p>\n

In the unanimous judgement handed down today, the court ruled in Mr Stewart’s favour allowing his appeal, finding the Supreme Court of Queensland and Court of Appeal’s approach to “reasonableness” was in error.<\/p>\n

“Mr Stewart was entitled to compensation in a sum which, as far as money can do, would put him in the same position as he would have been in had MNHHS not acted negligently,” the judgement said.<\/p>\n

“The inquiry should not have been reduced to a simple balancing of the costs to MNHHS and the health benefits to Mr Stewart of care at (a rented) home.<\/p>\n

“In this case, the question was whether his choice to be cared for at home was a reasonable response to repair the consequences of the tort by MNHHS.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Michael Stewart experienced bowel perforations, sepsis, a heart attack, stroke, and brain damage while being cared for at Redcliffe Hospital. (ABC News: Christopher Gillette)<\/p>\n

Judgement sets ‘landmark’ precedent<\/p>\n

Maurice Blackburn Senior Associate Kirsten Van Der Wal, who represented Mr Stewart, said today’s decision meant courts would now have to consider the plaintiff’s choice.<\/p>\n

“This is a landmark moment not just for Mr Stewart, but for all Australians living with the consequences of catastrophic injuries,” she said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“The High Court confirmed that the assessment of damages must go beyond a narrow cost-benefit comparison of care options.<\/p>\n

Queensland medical negligence compensation<\/a><\/p>\n

In less than six years Queensland Health has been forced to pay out more than $390 million to more than 1,000 people injured as a result medical negligence in public hospitals.<\/p>\n

“The court emphasised that “reasonableness” requires recognition of the injured person’s dignity, autonomy and right to live as closely as possible to the life they would have led before the injury.<\/p>\n

“The last time the High Court of Australia considered this issue was more than 50 years ago.”<\/p>\n

The court set aside orders made in the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal in Queensland with the matter to return to the Supreme Court for an assessment of damages.<\/p>\n

Metro North Hospital and Health Service has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Queensland man who was injured due to negligent care at Redcliffe Hospital has won a High Court…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1110,64,63,99,1783,36410,31861,81932,81937,81936,81933,81938,81934,81935,43529,74653],"class_list":["post-115594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-appeal","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-compensation","tag-disabilities","tag-high-court","tag-high-court-of-australia","tag-medical-negligence","tag-metro-north-hospital-and-health-service","tag-michael-stewart","tag-negligence","tag-negligent-care","tag-north-queensland-hospital","tag-queensland-supreme-court","tag-redcliffe-hospital"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}