Tara Moss’s medical negligence lawsuit against Dr Chris Coghill is over

Tara Moss’s legal battle against a doctor she said failed to diagnose a serious hip injury has been discontinued on the eve of what was set to be a weeks-long trial.

The model turned crime novelist and disability advocate had been set to face-off against Dr Chris Coghill at a Supreme Court hearing in Sydney.

Moss had claimed Dr Coghill failed to detect a hip injury which forced her to use a cane she calls ‘Wolfie’ but Daily Mail Australia has learnt the action is over. 

A Supreme Court spokesman said only that the medical negligence claim, launched almost four years ago, had been discontinued on May 1 with the consent of both parties. 

Tara Moss’s legal battle against a doctor she said failed to diagnose a serious hip injury has been discontinued on the eve of what was set to be a weeks-long trial

The court had previously been told Moss required ongoing physical assistance and was seeking an ‘extremely large claim’ against Dr Coghill. 

Moss, who uses her Instagram account to destigmatise mobility aids such as walking sticks, often posts photographs of herself using a walker or wheelchair. 

The 49-year-old claimed Dr Coghill was negligent and failed in his duty of care by not diagnosing a soft tissue injury to her hip, causing disabilities, economic loss and ongoing pain. 

Dr Coghill, a Blue Mountains GP with more than 20 years’ experience, denied any negligence, saying he acted competently and professionally at all times. 

‘If any damages were suffered by [Moss] as alleged (which is denied), they were caused or contributed to by [Moss’s] own negligence,’ he said in a statement of defence. 

Moss, who now lives in her native Canada, alleged she consulted Dr Coghill on eight occasions from February 2016 to September 2017.

Moss, who uses her Instagram account to destigmatise mobility aids such as walking sticks, often posts photographs of herself using a walker or wheelchair

She said in her statement of claim she had suffered a dull pain in her right pelvis following surgery performed by another doctor in early 2016.

The best-selling author claimed that pain became more intense after a second procedure, to the point she could not ‘stand comfortably’ during a photoshoot in March.

Moss alleged she when she visited Dr Coghill that month he initially attributed the pain to a ‘blighted ovum’, but he denied that was the case.

She claimed Dr Coghill failed to examine her pelvic area for signs of a hip injury but in his defence he stated ‘there was no clinical indication to do so’.

Moss said she visited Dr Coghill in 2017 and told him the pain in her hip was ‘not resolving and was severe’. Dr Coghill said he was told ‘her pelvic discomfort was slowly resolving’.

In 2018, Moss visited another GP who recommended she get an MRI scan of her hip area, which found she had a labral tear around her hip socket, she claimed.

Moss alleged failure to detect that tear left her with chronic hip and back pain, nerve damage, psychological injuries and an abnormal gait. 

Dr Coghill had countered that the tear was not present when he treated Moss and she was at fault for not telling him she was suffering from hip pain.  

Lawyers for Moss and Dr Coghill engaged in mediation last month ahead of Moss returning to Australia from Canada for what was expected to be a six-week trial.

Law firm Slater and Gordon, which acted for Moss, declined to comment on the case being discontinued. 

HWL Ebsworth Lawyers, which represented Dr Coghill, did not respond to an inquiry.