The plaintiff brought an action for negligence and battery against a locum chiropractor, alleging that the chiropractor performed a cervical spine adjustment in contravention of a 'No C/S ADJ' note in her chart, causing a disc herniation at C7-T1.
The court found as a fact that the defendant did not perform a cervical adjustment, but rather performed thoracic adjustments that were consistent with the plaintiff's previous treatments.
The court held that the plaintiff failed to establish causation on a balance of probabilities, as the onset of neurological symptoms occurred hours later, and the disc herniation could have been caused by minor daily trauma given the plaintiff's pre-existing degenerative disc disease.
The court further found that the defendant met the standard of care and had obtained valid informed consent.
The action was dismissed.
