Category: Medical Malpractice

Court of Appeal Overturns Award to Brain Injured Baby – Ediger v. Johnston

by John McKiggan

The British Columbia Court of Appeal released its reasons last week in the case of Ediger v. Johnston.

The Facts

Cassidy Ediger suffered an acute and severe hypoxia-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) about 20 minutes before her birth. Her injury was caused by a compression of her umbilical cord which cut off oxygen from the placenta to her brain. The asphyxia caused a deceleration in her fetal heart rate which lasted until Cassidy was delivered by emergency caesarean section.

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Posted in: Birth Injuries, Brain Injuries, Informed Consent, Medical Malpractice, Standard of Care, Surgical Errors, Uncategorized

Patient Safety: Sleep Deprived Doctors Making Mistakes

by John McKiggan

Dangers of Deprivation

The Canadian Medical Association Journal has published an editorial that suggests that sleep deprivation in doctors is endangering patient safety.

According to the authors of the editorial, Drs. Noni MacDonald, Paul Hébert, Ken Flegel and Matthew Stanbrook: “The problem may only be getting worse…”

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Posted in: Anaesthesia Errors, Emergency Room Errors, Medical Malpractice, Patient Safety, Surgical Errors, Uncategorized

Patient Safety: 10 Tips to Prevent Diagnostic Errors

by John McKiggan

A diagnostic error, or misdiagnosis, happens when a doctor (or other health care professional) reaches an incorrect conclusion about what is wrong with you.

In Canada up to 7.5% of patients experience some form of diagnostic error.

Why Diagnostic Errors Happen

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Posted in: Disclosure of Errors, Emergency Room Errors, Medical Malpractice, Medication Errors, Misdiagnosis, Nursing Errors, Uncategorized

Quebec Orders Hospitals to Disclose Medical Errors

by John McKiggan

Quebec became the first province in Canada to require hospitals to publicly disclose medical errors. Quebec’s Department of Health and Social Services has announced a new registry that will collect standardized data from 275 hospitals across the province.

The system will document all reported medical errors including:

1. Patient falls;
2. Supply problems; and
3. Medical record errors.

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Posted in: Anaesthesia Errors, Disclosure of Errors, Hospital Negligence, Medical Malpractice, Medication Errors, Uncategorized

Doctors Trying to Protect Reputations by Limiting Patients Speech

by John McKiggan

Doctors are still doing everything they can to prevent patients from posting negative comments on doctor ratings websites like Rate MDs.

I have discussed how some doctors in the United States require patients to sign a contract agreeing not to post negative comments about the doctor online before the doctor will agree to treat the patient: Doctors Forcing Patients to Sign Gag Orders.

One doctor sued her own patient for posting a negative review of the care provided by the doctor:Doctor Sues to Silence Patient .

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Posted in: Disclosure of Errors, Medical Malpractice, Misdiagnosis, Uncategorized

“Respectable Minority” Principle a Trap for Malpractice Victims – Cleveland v. Whelan

by John McKiggan

First Hurdle

The first thing a medical malpractice victim needs to prove in order to win their case is to establish the “standard of care”.

The Supreme Court of Canada stated that:
“A doctor’s behaviour must be assessed in light of the conduct of other ordinary specialists, who possess a reasonable amount of knowledge, competence and skill expected of professionals in Canada, in that field. A specialist such as the respondent, who holds himself out as possessing a special degree of skill and knowledge, must exercise the degree of skill of an average specialist in his field.”
That well known quote from the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Ter Neuzen v. Korn is referred to in every single medical malpractice trial.

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Posted in: Medical Malpractice, Standard of Care, Uncategorized

Birth Injuries More Common During Night Shift

by John McKiggan

My colleague, Ches Crosbie recently posted about an American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology report that studied medical charts for more than two millions births in California over a 14 year period. According to the study children born between the hours of 10 PM and 4 AM were 22% more likely to develop cerebral palsy.

Ches suggested:

Hospitals already have issues with staff shortages and fatigued workers, so it makes sense to me that these problems might be worse during the “graveyard shift”.

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Posted in: Birth Injuries, Hospital Negligence, Medical Malpractice, Uncategorized

Doctors Warn Against Using Internet to Self-Diagnose Illness

by John McKiggan

There is an old saying that a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client.

But what do you call a patient who diagnoses himself? “Dangerous.” At least according to Dr. Ross Upshur, a University of Toronto scientist and Canada Research Chair in primary-care research.

Self Diagnosis Dangerous
More and more patients are turning to Google and the internet to diagnose, and even treat, their injuries and illnesses. Doctors are warning people about the dangers of relying on unproven or inaccurate information that can be found while surfing the web.

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Posted in: Medical Malpractice, Misdiagnosis, Standard of Care, Uncategorized

Busy Doctors Do Not Have a Lower Standard of Care: Ontario Supreme Court

by John McKiggan

Reasons for judgement were released recently in the case of McLintock v. Alidina.

The plaintiff, Ann McLintock alleged negligence on the part of her family physician, Dr. Alidina, because Alidina hd failed to advise the plaintiff of the results of mammogram testing. McLintock had to undergo a course of 25 radiation treatments and surgical intervention as a result of the alleged delay.

Different Standards for Different Doctors?

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Posted in: Cancer, Causation, Medical Malpractice, Standard of Care, Uncategorized