Emergency medicine cases are a significant portion of medical malpractice litigation in Ontario. Emergency departments operate under conditions that make error more likely: high patient volumes, incomplete histories, simultaneous decision-making across multiple acuity levels, frequent handoffs between providers, and limited follow-up. Common allegations in this area include missed diagnoses, premature discharge, failure to order appropriate imaging, communication breakdowns at handoff, and inadequate triage.
The standard of care in emergency medicine is defined by what a reasonable emergency physician practising in similar circumstances would have done. Courts have recognized that emergency departments differ from primary care and consultant settings, and the standard reflects the realities of the environment without lowering the duty owed to patients. Expert evidence in these cases is typically provided by emergency medicine specialists rather than the relevant downstream consultant.
Hallway medicine, prolonged wait times, and chronic overcrowding raise systemic issues that interact with individual standard-of-care analysis in ways the courts continue to work out.
Posts tagged Emergency Medicine analyze Ontario decisions involving emergency department care, from missed cardiac and stroke diagnoses to pediatric assessment failures and discharge errors.
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 finds emergency physician negligent for failing to refer 17-week pregnant patient with pPROM to obstetrician, leading to septic shock and amputations.
BC court dismisses ED malpractice claim involving missed subarachnoid hemorrhage where patient lacked thunderclap headache and the bleed had not yet occurred.
Missed sepsis is one of the most consequential diagnostic failures in emergency medicine. Patients with early sepsis can look deceptively well: vital signs may be
Ontario Superior Court dismisses fatal aortic dissection claim against internist and ED physician. The standards of care for mild aortic dilation and hypertensive chest pain.
A settlement on behalf of a patient discharged from hospital despite signs of acute psychiatric illness, who suffered catastrophic injury within 24 hours.
The BC Supreme Court dismisses a missed-appendicitis claim. Normal ultrasound, documented differential diagnosis, and the anchoring bias allegation rejected.
The Court of Appeal affirmed plaintiff causation in a stroke malpractice case, holding that defendants cannot rely on evidentiary gaps their own negligence created.
A delayed Lyme disease claim against two Ontario physicians dismissed on multiple grounds, including the most fundamental: the plaintiff failed to prove he had Lyme disease.
Most ER visits are for minor concerns. For the small number that are not, missing the diagnosis can be fatal. Five conditions that recur in malpractice cases.
Ectopic pregnancy is a leading cause of first-trimester maternal death. When the diagnosis is delayed, the consequences can be catastrophic.
Sepsis is one of medicine’s most time-sensitive diagnoses. When it is missed, the consequences are catastrophic and often preventable.
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