The B.C. Court of Appeal has upheld the bulk of a $1-million-plus award to a former Chilliwack, B.C., schoolboy for a psychiatric ailment he developed after being struck in the face playing field hockey.

After he was injured, the 13-year-old boy began to complain of medical symptoms with no apparent physical cause — often referred to as hypochondria.

The condition arose after he was hit by a girl's stick as she wound up to take a shot during a school physical education class in Chilliwack in 1998.

He was taken to hospital and was diagnosed with a mild concussion, lacerations, and extensive soft tissue bruising with swelling over the bridge of his nose, forehead, and both eyes.

Although a normal recovery was anticipated, his condition became much worse over time, eventually developing into the serious condition from which he still suffers now, at age 26.

Father blamed

At the original trial, the judge found the teacher negligent for allowing the boy to play field hockey without the necessary skills.

The trial judge also found the accident caused the hypochondria — a type of severe psychiatric distress.

The Chilliwack School Board argued that the boy's disorder was caused by the smothering relationship with his single-parent father who attended the school daily to eat lunch with him, watched from the street as he played in the schoolyard and even would peer at the boy occasionally through the classroom window.

Prior to the accident, the boy had missed 51 of 136 school days and was at risk of failing Grade 7 due to absenteeism.

However, the B.C. Court of Appeal rejected the Board's argument, but reduced the original award of nearly $1.4 million to about $1.1 million.