On December 30, 2024, the Honourable Justice Michael Bordin of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice determined that two pediatric neurologists of McMaster Children’s Hospital (“MCH”) were negligent in the treatment of a newborn girl’s seizures which unfortunately resulted in a significant brain injury along with intellectual and development delay.
On December 20, 2024, the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta dismissed a medical malpractice claim brought by the family of a 51 year-old woman who died 10 days after admission to the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton. The patient’s death occurred during a cardiac procedure to address an issue with her mitral heart valve. The trial was focused on the two critical care medicine specialists involved in her care at the material time.
On January 9, 2025, Justice H. Williams of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice awarded the successful physicians $957,893 in legal costs (in addition to the already $100,000 ordered for costs thrown away due to a previous adjournment).
On November 22, 2024, the Supreme Court for British Columbia dismissed a claim by a patient who alleged that an emergency medicine physician had failed to diagnose appendicitis leading to a ruptured appendix.
On November 25, 2024, a patient was successful in proving medical negligence against his orthopedic surgeon after suffering a permanent injury to the medial cord
After a trial, a Court of King’s Bench judge found that Dr. Sneha Prabha Talukdar had breached the duty of care she owed Mr. Lorencz because she had not referred him to a cardiologist after seeing him twice in the months prior to his heart attack. However, the judge also found that Dr. Talukdar’s negligence had not caused Mr. Lorencz’s death because he was “unable to conclude on a balance of probabilities that Mr. Lorencz would have been able to see the specialist, have the necessary investigations completed, and arrive at the necessary medical opinions [to prevent his death] prior to his cardiac event on January 23, 2005” (Trial Decision at para 114).
On August 15, 2024, a birth injury medical malpractice lawsuit was dismissed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
The Plaintiffs alleged birth trauma resulting in neurodevelopmental limitations due to a lack of informed consent with respect to the use of forceps and vacuum to expedite the birth of the child. The Plaintiffs further alleged negligence with respect to the timeliness of a C-section while the fetus was in distress.
On July 25, 2024, the Court of Appeal for Ontario dismissed the appeal of an emergency room physician whose negligence in failing to consider a stroke in his differential diagnosis led to delayed treatment and bad outcome for the patient.
On April 20, 2009, Sophia Hemmings (“Ms. Hemmings”) suffered a cardiac arrest during a caesarean section (C-section) at Scarborough General Hospital, leading to severe brain injury. Ms. Hemmings, who was 29 years old, was represented in a lawsuit by her mother, sister, daughter, and son. They alleged negligence by several healthcare practitioners, resulting in a $12 million damages award.
On July 9, 2024, the Supreme Court of British Colombia dismissed this medical malpractice claim arising from an unsuccessful attempt by the defendant anaesthesiologist to administer an obstetric epidural to the plaintiff who was expecting her first child.
On April 24, 2024, the Court of Appeal dismissed the medical negligence appeal of a severely brain injured child who was badly assaulted by his mother when he was only 16 days old.
On April 16, 2024, the Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal of three physicians, Dr. Ivan Radovanovic (“Dr. Radovanovic”), Dr. Vitor Mendes Pereira (“Dr. Pereira”), and Dr. Karel ter Brugge (“Dr. ter Brugge”), challenging a trial judgment against them for failure to obtain informed consent from their patient, Michael Denman (“Mr. Denman”). Mr. Denman, 54, experienced a catastrophic brain injury during a third embolization procedure in June 2015, leaving him with left-sided paralysis. Damages were settled before trial at $8.5 million. The appellants were physicians at Toronto Western Hospital (TWH), who were involved in Mr. Denman’s treatment plan for an arteriovenous malformation (AVM).
