Standard of care is the legal benchmark for the conduct expected of physicians, nurses, and other regulated health professionals in Ontario. It is the first of the three elements a plaintiff must prove in a medical malpractice claim, and it is almost always proven or defended through the evidence of qualified medical experts.
Posts tagged Standard of Care analyze how Ontario courts have applied the test in specific cases, how expert evidence is used to define what a reasonable practitioner would have done in the circumstances, and where the standard is contested between specialties. The library covers obstetrical, emergency, surgical, anesthetic, and primary care decisions, along with appellate rulings that shape how trial courts approach the question.
For patients considering a claim, these case comments offer a sense of what Ontario courts have treated as a departure from the standard of care and what they have not.
Paul Cahill won an $11.5 million jury verdict against an obstetrician whose failure to refer to a perinatologist caused a catastrophic cerebral palsy birth injury.
Why expert selection drives outcomes in Ontario medical malpractice cases. Paul Cahill on finding the right expert from an OTLA webinar.
Paul Cahill settled a wrongful death claim against a family physician who failed to provide the HCC surveillance that hepatitis B carriers require.
Paul Cahill settled a laboratory negligence claim where a failure to properly test tuberculosis susceptibilities led to vertebral collapse and spinal surgery.
Paul Cahill settled a surgical negligence claim where ankle fracture surgery proceeded before the patient’s anticoagulation was properly reversed.
Paul Cahill settled a wrongful death claim after hospital staff failed to connect oxygen tubing to a patient’s CPAP machine, leading to cardiac arrest.
Paul Cahill settled a medical malpractice claim involving permanent vestibular damage from unmonitored outpatient gentamicin therapy.
The role of legal nurse consultants in medical malpractice cases, from records review to expert identification. From a 2015 Connect MLX seminar.
Paul Cahill settled a wrongful death claim involving a misplaced breathing tube and a delayed anesthesiology response in the emergency room.
Paul Cahill settled a surgical negligence claim arising from an aortic injury during a laparoscopic nephrectomy that caused spinal cord ischemia.
Paul Cahill’s trial victory in Ayana v Skin Klinic, 2009, established the standard of care for laser hair removal performed in an Ontario dermatology clinic.
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