MRI Recommended By Massage Therapist Not Recoverable in ICBC Claim

Reasons for judgement were released last week by the BC Supreme Court, Kelowna Registry (Culos v. Chretien), rejecting compensation for the cost of an MRI recommended by a Massage Therapist.  In finding this was not an appropriate special damage in the circumstances (ie -without the request coming from a medical doctor) Mr. Justice Rogers provided the following comments:
[61] The plaintiff is not entitled to the cost of the MRI or the magnetic belt that he claims. The former is not recoverable because the massage therapist who recommended it to the plaintiff did not have the qualifications to either prescribe the scan or to interpret its result. The magnetic belt sounds like a bit of Old West quackery. No evidence at trial supplied a foundation for a finding that this belt was necessary to control or cure the plaintiff’s complaints.