Lyme disease, a tick-borne infection, features in medical malpractice litigation primarily through allegations of missed or delayed diagnosis. Early recognition and antibiotic treatment usually resolve the infection, whereas delay can allow progression to more serious neurological, cardiac, and joint complications, some of which may be persistent.
Lyme disease is also a contested area of clinical medicine, with genuine debate about the interpretation of testing and the existence and management of chronic or post-treatment symptoms. Claims commonly concern failure to consider Lyme disease in a patient with a compatible history and presentation, failure to test or treat appropriately, and the management of ongoing symptoms. The standard of care is established through expert evidence and reflects the mainstream of clinical opinion at the relevant time, and causation turns on what difference earlier diagnosis and treatment would have made to the course of the illness.
Posts tagged Lyme Disease analyze Ontario and other Canadian decisions involving the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease.
Justice Williams awards over $1M in costs against the unsuccessful plaintiff in the Lyme disease malpractice trial. The defendant-win costs framework in Ontario.
A self-represented plaintiff’s Lyme disease delayed-diagnosis claim was dismissed at summary judgment after his sole expert witness was disqualified.
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