Hospital negligence claims address the institutional liability of hospitals for harm caused to patients, separate from the personal liability of individual physicians, nurses, or other professionals. In Ontario, hospitals can be liable directly for failures in systems, equipment, supervision, credentialing, staffing, or protocols, and they can be liable vicariously for the conduct of their employees, including nurses and resident physicians. Most attending physicians, by contrast, are independent contractors with hospital privileges rather than employees, which constrains vicarious liability for their conduct.
The distinction between hospital and physician liability matters at every stage of a case: the limitation analysis under section 5 of the Limitations Act, 2002 may run differently against the institution and the physician, the discovery obligations differ, the expert evidence required differs, and the available defendants in a settlement or judgment differ.
Posts tagged Hospital Negligence analyze Ontario cases in which the hospital’s own conduct, as distinct from any individual practitioner’s, has been at issue: nursing supervision, communication systems, transfer protocols, equipment failures, and the institutional response to deteriorating patients.
When overcrowded Ontario emergency departments contribute to delayed diagnoses, premature discharges, or death, the legal standard of care does not bend.
Hamilton Spectator coverage of the Hanans family’s $2.5 million lawsuit against Hamilton Health Sciences over the 2024 death of a four-year-old following routine pediatric tonsil surgery.
A settlement on behalf of the family of a man admitted with a heart attack who died overnight after his telemetry alarms went unanswered by hospital staff.
A settlement on behalf of a 30-year-old whose midwifery-led labour did not escalate when it should have, leading to severe hemorrhage and emergency hysterectomy.
A settlement on behalf of a patient discharged from hospital despite signs of acute psychiatric illness, who suffered catastrophic injury within 24 hours.
Communication failures cause some of the most preventable harm in Canadian healthcare. The legal framework, the practical reality, and the federal response.
When inadequate vancomycin monitoring produces a preventable death. The standard of care, the multi-provider liability picture, and the legal framework.
A settlement on behalf of a 40-year-old woman whose hysterectomy was described as uncomplicated but resulted in injuries to both ureters and chronic disability.
A look at the most recent CMPA and CIHI data on medical malpractice, hospital harm, and what the numbers actually say about patient safety in Canada.
Hundreds of thousands of Canadians leave the ER without being seen each year. Here’s how Ontario law treats wait times, harm, and contributory negligence.
September 2023 coverage in CP24 and the Brampton Guardian of the Thompson v Handler trial decision finding an ER physician negligent for the death of a 34-year-old mother.
A psychiatrist was seriously assaulted by a patient. The BC Court of Appeal confirmed that hospitals owe a duty of care to medical staff, and that the standard is contextual.
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