Orthopaedic surgery claims concern the management of injuries and conditions of the bones, joints, and soft tissues. Recurring fact patterns include missed or mismanaged fractures, failure to diagnose compartment syndrome, nerve and vascular injury during procedures, wrong-site or wrong-level surgery, post-operative infection, and complications of joint replacement.
The standard of care is established through expert evidence from orthopaedic surgery and the relevant adjacent specialties, such as emergency medicine where the initial presentation was to an emergency department. It is assessed against the information available at the time of the decision rather than with hindsight. Causation often turns on whether timely or correct surgical management would have avoided the permanent deficit, particularly where the original injury carried its own risk of a poor outcome.
Posts tagged Orthopaedic Surgery analyze Ontario decisions involving the diagnosis and surgical management of musculoskeletal conditions and injuries.
Ontario court dismisses orthopaedic malpractice claim after finding hip replacement subsidence was osteointegration failure, a recognized complication, not negligence.
Ontario Superior Court dismisses post-operative osteomyelitis claim. The hospitalist standard of care, patient-declined treatment, and the pre-existing infection defence.
When a surgical complication is extreme and rare, the trier of fact can infer negligence from the outcome itself. Trial win on shoulder replacement nerve injury.
A settlement involving a 65-year-old man whose ankle fracture went 40 days without orthopedic follow-up, leading to joint infection and below-knee amputation.
Paul Cahill settled a surgical negligence claim where ankle fracture surgery proceeded before the patient’s anticoagulation was properly reversed.
Free, confidential consultations. Paul reviews every potential case personally and tells you honestly whether it merits investigation.