The Court of Appeal for Ontario is the province’s highest court and the final domestic appellate court for most Ontario medical malpractice decisions, given the rarity of leave being granted to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Court of Appeal hears appeals from final orders of the Superior Court of Justice (other than family law matters) and from select decisions of the Divisional Court.
In medical malpractice litigation, the Court of Appeal’s role is doubly important. Its decisions are binding on every trial-level judge in Ontario, and its analysis of standard of care, causation, expert evidence, and damages frames how the trial bench approaches these issues. Recent decisions have refined the application of the Clements v Clements causation framework, addressed the limits of permissible expert opinion under White Burgess Langille Inman v Abbott and Haliburton Co, and continued the appellate court’s long line of decisions on the Reibl v Hughes informed consent test.
Posts tagged Court of Appeal for Ontario analyze the court’s medical malpractice decisions and what they mean for trial practice in this province.
Ontario Court of Appeal affirms reduction of contingency fee from $4.1 million to $3.25 million in $14 million birth injury settlement involving vulnerable client.
An Ontario internist found negligent for delayed intubation and failure to call an intensivist when a young mother’s severe asthma attack turned catastrophic.
The Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the trial verdict in Shaw Estate v Handler, affirming the standard of care to recall a patient after critical CT findings.
Ontario Court of Appeal reinstates novel psychiatric malpractice claim by family member of patient who killed his father, sending duty of care question to trial.
The Court of Appeal affirmed plaintiff causation in a stroke malpractice case, holding that defendants cannot rely on evidentiary gaps their own negligence created.
The Court of Appeal affirmed a $12 million plaintiff verdict for catastrophic maternal brain injury, rejecting the defence theory of amniotic fluid embolism.
The Court of Appeal affirmed the dismissal of a medical negligence claim alleging failure to report child protection concerns. The causation chain failed at multiple links.
The Ontario Court of Appeal affirmed liability against three physicians for failure to disclose the cumulative risks of a multi-step brain AVM treatment plan.
A young man developed paraplegia from an undiagnosed spinal dural fistula his neurologist failed to investigate. A jury awarded $1.5M; the Court of Appeal affirmed.
The Court of Appeal ordered a new trial after a trial judge discharged the jury on her own motion and dismissed the malpractice claim with reasons 90% copied from the defence.
The Court of Appeal for Ontario affirmed a malpractice trial loss but observed that the trial reasons had not treated the appellants’ claim with appropriate dignity.
The Ontario Court of Appeal upheld Paul Cahill’s trial verdict in Hacopian-Armen Estate v Mahmoud, clarifying the foreseeability test in delayed cancer cases.
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