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.
A missed diagnosis of compartment syndrome cost a patient her leg. The trial judge found the ER physician breached the standard of care.
Expert evidence, defence resourcing, and high-risk ER scenarios shape Ontario medical malpractice cases. From OTLA’s 2020 medical malpractice conference.
Paul Cahill settled a wrongful death claim involving a misplaced breathing tube and a delayed anesthesiology response in the emergency room.
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