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A Penticton-based psychiatrist who was badly beaten by a patient while being assessed in a psychiatry unit has lost his legal battle against the Interior Health Authority.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Steven Wilson ruled that Dr. Rajeev Sheoran hadn't managed to prove that the Interior Health Authority failed to meet its duty of care when the psychiatrist was attacked by Summerland resident Gregory Stanley Nield in 2014.

"(Dr. Sheoran's) claim against Interior Health Authority is that Interior Health Authority ought to have had a policy whereby nobody would ever meet with Mr. Nield alone. In effect, (Dr. Sheoran) is suggesting that the assault would not have occurred if Interior Health Authority had a policy that would have overridden his own clinical judgment," Justice Wilson said in the decision. "However, he presented no expert evidence on the standard of care that provided a single example of a hospital or health authority with such a policy. As such, the evidence falls far short of establishing that Interior Health Authority was required to have such a policy."

In a lengthy 34,000 word decision, Justice Wilson dissects the events that led up to Nield attacking Dr. Sheoran.

Unusually, the Justice also calculates the compensation Dr. Sheoran would have been owed had he won his case.

The Justice put the figure at $10,000,000.

The case dates back to 2014 when massage therapist and world-ranked jiu-jitsu competitor Nield had been held involuntary as a patient at the psychiatry unit of the Penticton Regional Hospital.

Nield, who is a skilled and trained martial arts fighter, had been in the unit for about one week before the assault took place.

The decision says he'd told one nurse, "I just hope I do not have to hurt anyone to get out of here," and had escaped on several occasions during the week before coming back.

Nield's wife had said he was very distressed and seemed fearful and was getting more confrontational.

Several assessments were done on Nield during the week and his wife and mother had warned staff that he was at an international level in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, that they needed to be careful.

After about a week in the unit, Dr. Sheoran took Nield into an interview room to conduct an assessment.

"The (psychiatrist) could not recall what precipitated the reaction. He has a recollection of Mr. Nield leaning down as if he had dropped something and then punching him in the face. He was reaching out for the panic button when he was hit again and lost consciousness," the decision reads.

Nield was charged and convicted for the assault, although didn't get jail time. He then won an appeal for a retrial and the Crown then dropped the charges.

Dr. Sheoran suffered a fractured jaw and suffered a mild traumatic brain injury in the attack.

"More significant than the physical injuries at this time, some seven years after the assault, is the psychological harm suffered by Dr. Sheoran. He is unable to work at the present time, and his prognosis is poor," the Justice said.

The decision says since the attack the psychiatrist has only worked sporadically and hasn't worked since 2017.

The court documents say since the attack Dr. Sheoran's life has changed "significantly for the worse" and is easily irritated and frustrated.

"He is no longer the outgoing social person he was before," the decision says.

However, while the Justice calculated his lost earnings both past and in the future, plus other damages to total more than $10 million, the Justice said the psychiatrist hasn't proved Interior Health is responsible.

Dr. Sheoran testified that he asked a nurse to accompany him into the assessment room with Nield, but failed to prove this during the seven-week trial.

Much of the lengthy decision is given to addressing Interior Health's policies.

"The court must decide what should have been done, as opposed to what could have been done," Justice Wilson said. "In some cases, the question of what should have been done is a matter of common sense, arising out of normal everyday human experiences. However, great caution must be exercised when trying to import what might appear to be notions of common sense into complex fields, of which medicine is undoubtedly one.

"Inpatient psychiatric units... serve a societal purpose. Patients are only certified under the Mental Health Act if they pose a risk to themselves or others and if they are unwilling to admit themselves into hospital voluntarily," the decision reads. "If safety of others was the sole consideration, psychiatric wards would resemble prisons, where patients are confined in a manner to preclude the possibility of physical interaction with others. The more modern approach to psychiatry uses a therapeutic model of treatment."

The Justice said there was no evidence to suggest that the psychiatric unit did not meet the standard of care in 2014, or that the measures that were in place did not meet the standard practice of the day.

Ultimately Dr. Sheoran's case was dismissed.

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