Anticoagulation, the use of blood-thinning medication to prevent or treat clots, is a recurring source of medical malpractice claims because the therapy carries risk in both directions. Too little anticoagulation leaves the patient exposed to stroke, pulmonary embolism, or deep vein thrombosis, while too much causes bleeding, including catastrophic intracranial hemorrhage.
Allegations commonly concern failure to start indicated anticoagulation, such as in a patient with atrial fibrillation at known stroke risk, failure to monitor and adjust dosing, failure to recognize and manage bleeding complications, and errors at transitions of care when therapy is started, stopped, or bridged around surgery. The standard of care is established through expert evidence and is informed by clinical guidelines that function as background only, and causation turns on whether appropriate management would have averted the thrombotic or hemorrhagic outcome.
Posts tagged Anticoagulation analyze Ontario decisions involving the prescribing, monitoring, and management of anticoagulant therapy.
A patient’s guide to medication errors in Ontario, including the common error patterns, the high-alert drugs, and what it takes to prove a malpractice claim.
A medication error caused real distress but no compensable mental injury. The Court of Appeal applied the Saadati threshold and dismissed the claim.
A negligent stroke discharge that failed at causation. The Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the dismissal of the action, despite an admitted breach of standard of care.
Paul Cahill settled a surgical negligence claim where ankle fracture surgery proceeded before the patient’s anticoagulation was properly reversed.
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