Where a defendant in a medical negligence case discharges its evidentiary onus of establishing that the plaintiff's pre-existing condition was one of likely progressive deterioration, the plaintiff retains the legal burden of establishing the extent to which the defendant's negligence damaged her, and the court must make appropriate discounts to damages to account for the natural deterioration. An inference of causation for the purposes of the tort of negligence may be drawn where medical science regards a causal connection as possible, even where scientific certainty is not established. Evaluative assessments of damages discounts for pre-existing conditions are subject to the House v The King standard of appellate review.
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