Damages

Damages

Damages is the third element of a medical malpractice claim, after standard of care and causation. Once a plaintiff has proven that the defendant’s conduct fell below the standard of care and that the breach caused the injury, the court must quantify the loss in monetary terms. In Ontario medical malpractice cases, damages typically fall into several heads: general (or non-pecuniary) damages for pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life; future care costs; past and future loss of income or earning capacity; out-of-pocket expenses; and family-member claims under section 61 of the Family Law Act.

Non-pecuniary damages in Canada are capped at approximately three hundred and fifty thousand dollars (in 1978 dollars, indexed to inflation), following the Supreme Court of Canada’s trilogy of decisions in Andrews v Grand & Toy Alberta Ltd, [1978] 2 SCR 229, Thornton v School District No 57 (Prince George), [1978] 2 SCR 267, and Arnold v Teno, [1978] 2 SCR 287. The cap currently runs to roughly four hundred thousand dollars in present-day dollars. Pecuniary damages are not capped and can run into the millions in catastrophic injury cases.

The quantification of future-care costs and loss of earning capacity is typically the most heavily contested aspect of damages and requires actuarial and medical expert evidence.

Posts tagged Damages analyze Ontario decisions on the assessment of compensation in medical malpractice claims.

Case header: Bradley v Wang with subtitle 'Direct observation outweighs a physician's evidence of usual practice' on a dark blue banner with 'Case Comment' and professional labels at top corners.

Bradley v Wang: A Misplaced Injection, Usual Practice Evidence, and the Mitigation Burden

The Court of Appeal for Ontario dismisses Dr. Wang’s appeal in Bradley v Wang, upholding findings that a tetanus vaccine was injected in the wrong part of the arm, that the misplacement caused an adhesive capsulitis, and that no mitigation defence was made out. The decision confirms that counterfactual proof can be assembled from evidence excluding the competing explanation, and that a defendant who cannot show suitable alternative work was available loses the mitigation argument regardless of the plaintiff’s own efforts.

August 8, 2026

Navy title card reading Common Misunderstandings About Medical Malpractice, with the subhead What patients in Ontario often get wrong, from paulcahill.ca.

Common Misunderstandings About Medical Malpractice in Ontario

Some of the most common beliefs about medical malpractice in Ontario are simply wrong, and they cut both ways: pushing some people toward hopeless claims and others away from good ones. Here are the misunderstandings I see most often, set against how the law actually works, from what counts as negligence to limitation periods, College complaints, causation, and the cap on damages.

June 30, 2026

Case comment on J.C. v Jugenburg, 2026 ONSC 3061, on clinic surveillance, intrusion upon seclusion, and aggregate privacy damages in a patient class action. By Paul Cahill, LSO Certified Specialist in Civil Litigation.

J.C. v Jugenburg: Undisclosed Patient Surveillance and the Tort of Intrusion upon Seclusion

A cosmetic surgery clinic recorded patients in consultation rooms and the operating room without telling them. In J.C. v Jugenburg, 2026 ONSC 3061, the court awarded $21.5 million in aggregate damages and $1 million in punitive damages, and clarified how intrusion upon seclusion applies inside the doctor-patient relationship.

June 5, 2026

Suing for Medical Malpractice in Ontario: What You Need to Know

Yes, you can sue for medical malpractice in Ontario. The harder question is whether you should. After two decades of these cases, the candid advice for many prospective clients is to think very carefully before going forward, and in some cases, not to go forward at all.

May 6, 2026

Bradley v Wang: A Misplaced Injection, Usual Practice Evidence, and the Mitigation Burden

Common Misunderstandings About Medical Malpractice in Ontario

Suing for Medical Malpractice in Ontario: What You Need to Know

Unanswered Telemetry Alarms, a Fatal Arrhythmia, and a Wrongful Death Settlement

Defining a Winning Business Strategy for Your PI Firm

Why Many Medical Malpractice Cases Are Declined in Ontario

Shaw Estate v Handler: The Court of Appeal Upholds Liability for a Failure to Recall After Critical Imaging

A Midwifery Failure to Escalate, a Postpartum Hemorrhage, and Permanent Infertility at 30

Causation: Medical Malpractice and Intervening Acts at the LSO Motor Vehicle Litigation Summit

A Cancer Diagnosis Without a Biopsy, Unnecessary Palliative Treatment, and a Settlement

A Failure to Admit, an Acute Psychiatric Crisis, and a Catastrophic Injury Settlement

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Damages

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Concerned about medical negligence? Talk to Paul directly.

Concerned about medical negligence?
Talk to Paul directly.