Doctors have a duty to act with the utmost loyalty and good faith when dealing with their patients, and must never allow their personal interests to conflict with their professional duty.  This duty is called a “fiduciary duty.”  In this article Andrea Donaldson reviews a number of infamous lawsuits in which physicians breached this duty, and discusses a recent application of these principles in the case law.

It is recognized that patients have a right to make informed decisions about their medical care. Yet somehow, when it comes to the deciding between a vaginal birth and a caesarean section, in the past it has been acceptable for a physician to refuse a patient’s request if it was not, in the doctor’s opinion, medically necessary. Lindsay McGivern reviews recent policy developments that acknowledge that a woman’s preferences should be taken into consideration.

Chronic pain is part of many personal injury, motor vehicle, and medical malpractice claims. Since chronic pain is something that can’t be seen or measured, it can be difficult for the courts to understand the severity of the pain, or the impact it can have on a plaintiff’s day-to-day functioning. Do recent advances in neuro-imaging such as functional MRI (fMRI) offer potential solutions to these challenges? In this paper, I will review developments in neuro-imaging and their applicability in negligence claims.

Will the science of genetics play a greater role in birth injury lawsuits in the future? As the science of genetics continues to advance, it is sometimes suggested that a child’s birth injury may be caused by genetic abnormalities rather than any difficulties encountered during labour. In this article, Andrea and Paul examine the current medical understanding of the role of genetics in neurodevelopmental disorders such as cerebral palsy, and how Canadian courts have approached the defence of genetic predisposition in birth injury claims.