A now-retired Whitehorse doctor has denied any wrongdoing in response to a lawsuit brought on by a patient who alleges she became pregnant, twice, after he performed a fallopian-tube removal surgery on her.
Dr. Wayne MacNicol, Whitehorse General Hospital’s former chief of medical staff who practiced obstetrics and gynecology, filed his statement of defence to the Yukon Supreme Court July 2.
MacNicol was sued by British Columbia resident Jeannena Gallinger in late 2017, who alleged in her statement of claim that the doctor, did not, in fact, remove her fallopian tubes during a surgery in Whitehorse in 2014, and that his conduct “fell below a reasonable standard of care.”
The statement of claim also lists a “John Doe” as a defendant, who’s meant to represent “one or more physicians, residents, nurses or other medical personnel, hospital, corporations or unincorporated bodies” involved in Gallinger’s post-surgical care, and whom she alleges failed to properly follow up with her after she discovered her first pregnancy.
MacNicol’s statement of defence acknowledges that he performed a bilateral lateral salpingectomy, or fallopian tube removal, on Gallinger. However, it denies that MacNicol was negligent in treating her, and that “all medical procedures carried out by him with respect to (Gallinger) were appropriate to the circumstances and in accord with standard medical practice.”
The document also denies that MacNicol had entered and then breached a contractual relationship with Gallinger, as alleged in her lawsuit, and that Gallinger suffered any “injury, loss, damage or expense.”
If she did suffer any injury, loss, damage or expense, the statement of defence continues, it can be attributed to “pre-existing or subsequent” unrelated health conditions or Gallinger’s own negligence, which includes, allegedly, failing to use contraceptives, “failing to undergo investigations to examine her fallopian tubes” and “failing to follow medical advice.”
Gallinger’s claim is also “barred by the effluxion of time,” the statement of defence alleges.
MacNicol is seeking for the lawsuit to be dismissed and legal costs.
The case has not yet been tested in court.
Contact Jackie Hong at jackie.hong@yukon-news.com