What is the test for determining whether there is no scientifically proven cause or causes of fibromyalgia?

Alberta, Canada


The following excerpt is from Lynne v. Taylor, 2006 ABCA 12 (CanLII):

In this case, the expert medical witnesses for both the appellant and respondent agreed that there is no scientifically proven cause or causes of fibromyalgia. But, as stated in Snell v. Farrell at 330: The legal or ultimate burden remains with the plaintiff, but in the absence of evidence to the contrary adduced by the defendant, an inference of causation may be drawn although positive or scientific proof of causation has not been adduced. If some evidence to the contrary is adduced by the defendant, the trial judge is entitled to take account of Lord Mansfield’s famous precept. This is, I believe, what Lord Bridge had in mind in Wilsher when he referred to a “robust and pragmatic approach to the ... facts” (p. 569). It is not therefore essential that the medical experts provide a firm opinion supporting the plaintiff’s theory of causation. Medical experts ordinarily determine causation in terms of certainties whereas a lesser standard is demanded by the law.

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