AMINZADAH v CHOUKEIR

The Plaintiff appealed a term of an Applications Judge’s Order requiring her to attend a Defence Medical Examination that also gave the Defendant’s examining orthopaedic surgeon access to her Netcare and Connect Care records. The Plaintiff had already produced the medical records she and her counsel determined were relevant and material to the Action.

Justice Lew held that, while Rule 5.44(5) permits the Court to limit or curtail a medical examination, the production of relevant and material records remained part of the litigation process and was not for the Defence expert to control. Granting the Defence expert unrestricted access to the Plaintiff’s digital medical records would improperly allow the expert, rather than the producing party, to determine relevance and materiality.

The Court held that the Plaintiff’s privacy and dignity interests outweighed the physician’s efficiency concerns. Although the physician raised legitimate concerns about access to radiological images and the completeness of the examination, those concerns could be addressed by narrower practical arrangements. The Appeal was allowed, and the Defence expert was denied access to the Plaintiff’s digital medical records.