Where a surgeon's own evidence establishes a usual technique designed to avoid a specific risk, and the trial judge finds the surgeon departed from that technique causing the very injury the technique was designed to prevent, the court is entitled to find breach of duty notwithstanding general expert evidence that bile duct injuries can occur without negligence. The 'inherent risk' defence under s 5I does not apply where the occurrence of the injury was avoidable by the exercise of reasonable care, as distinct from the risk being unavoidable. The question under s 5I is whether the occurrence, not the risk, was unavoidable.
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