The Madonia v. Stevens court decision was released by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on December 12, 2008.

On July 15, 2005, Laura Madonia attended at their cardiologist’s office for an electrocardiogram. Amongst other heart ailments, she suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and had a thickening of the heart muscle in the septum area of her heart.  The cardiologist interpreted the results as showing atrial fibrillation (abnormal heart rhythm) and prescribed anti-coagulation medication for that condition.

Three weeks later, Mrs. Madonia attended Joseph Brant Hospital suffering from bleeding. Read the rest of this entry »

The Frazer vs. Haukioja court decision was released by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on August 27, 2008.

Grant Frazer, then a 31 year-old school teacher, was injured in a motorcycle accident on November 25, 2001. He was taken to the emergency Northumberland Hospital where he underwent an x-ray and a CT-Scan. 

As a result of the accident, Mr. Frazer suffered fracture injuries to both lower limbs and compression fractures to his spine. A CT scan revealed a bruised lung. Read the rest of this entry »

The Weafer (Litigation Guardian of) v. Vancouver Coastal Health Authority court decision was released by the British Columbia Supreme Court on April 10, 2007.

Bradley Weaver, then a 32 year old child protection worker, injured his back in the summer of 2000 which necessitated surgery. The surgery took place on August 10, 2001 at the Vancouver General Hospital.  While, the surgery itself was successful, Mr. Weaver was experiencing significant post-surgical pain. Thus, the anesthesiologist ordered the nurse to infuse Mr. Weaver with Ketamine, an anesthetic and analgesic.

Five minutes after the infusion of Ketamine, the nurse returned to Mr. Weaver’s room and found that he was unresponsive and that he made a twitching, seizure-like motion. Read the rest of this entry »

The McKinnon v. Grand River Hospital court decision was released by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on June 25, 2007.

Cheryl McKinnon, a single mother of three children, suffered from Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. As a result, for several years she had endured symptoms caused by the compression of her vessels and nerves. On March 22, 2002, Ms. McKinnon was operated on by Dr. Paul Sharkey at the Grand River Hospital in Kitchener for the purpose of correcting this problem.

Difficulties arose during the surgery and Ms. McKinnon was airlifted to University Hospital in London. As a consequence of the surgery, Cheryl McKinnon suffered permanent, debilitating injuries including vascular and nerve damage. Read the rest of this entry »

The Poirier v. Robichaud court decision was released by the New Brunswick Court of Queen’s Bench on February 8, 2007.

In the fall of 1999, 19 year-old Sonia Poirer, noticed a lump on the left side of her neck. She went to the outpatients department of the Campbellton Regional Hospital where she was diagnosed with a left-sided neck mass. At that time, it was not known whether the neck mass was malignant or benign as the medical investigation was not yet completed.

In March 2000, the neck mass seemed to be progressing rapidly and was causing pain. Ms. Poirier was referred to Dr. Ronald Robichaud, an otorhinolaryngologist.  Dr. Robichaud diagnosed the neck mass as branchial cyst and recommended surgery. Read the rest of this entry »

The Thibert v. Zaw-Tun decision was released by the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench in Calgary on June 9, 2006.

On January 28, 1999, Denis Thibert, then 27 years old, while helping his sister move furniture to a new residence, jumped approximately two and half feet from the back of a pick-up truck with a dresser in his hands, and suffered an injury to his left ankle. When he got up the next morning the pain was excruciating, tremendous and the worst he had ever experienced.

Mr. Thibert immediately attended on Dr. Zaw-Tun at the Horizon Square Medicentre in Calgary. His ankle was x-rayed and Dr. Zaw-Tun diagnosed the injury as a severe sprain. Read the rest of this entry »

The court considered the principles governing medical malpractice liability set out by the Supreme Court of Canada. They are:

• That the conduct of a doctor must be compared against the conduct of a prudent and diligent doctor placed in similar circumstances.
• In assessing that conduct, courts should be careful not to rely on the perfect vision afforded by hindsight.
• Medical professionals should not be held liable for mere errors of judgment, which are distinguishable from professional fault.

The court found that by not ordering the urgent CT scan on July 8th, Dr. Crosby failed to exercise the degree of care expected of her, given the plaintiff’s clinical presentation and laboratory results. Read the rest of this entry »

The Smith v. Liwanpo decision was released by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on April 23, 2007.

On April 4, 2002, Larry Smith, age 61, had x-rays taken of his large intestines which disclosed two colonic polyps (abnormal growth of tissue on the colon). A colonoscopy was recommended for further assessment.

Mr. Smith underwent a colonoscopy on July 4, 2002. Following the colonoscopy he was sore in the lower back area and in the rectal area. The pain was severe enough for him to attend at the emergency department of Tillsonburg Hospital on Sunday July 7th.

Mr. Smith was admitted to the hospital and was examined the next morning by Dr. Crosby, the on-call surgeon. Dr. Crosby completed a physical examination, took a history and reviewed the plaintiff’s chart, lab work and x-ray reports and an x-ray for the next morning. On the morning of Tuesday, July 9th, Dr. Crosby received the x-ray results and ordered a CT scan.

Read the rest of this entry »