In medical malpractice we rely on the integrity of medical records as the foundation for understanding our client’s case. As more clinicians and hospitals move toward electronic medical records, lawyers must know what kind of information is available from those records and how to access it. In the world of paper medical charts there is
Archives for July 2018
The Financial Burden of Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
Medical malpractice cases have a well-deserved reputation for being both very difficult and very expensive. In their book, A Practical Guide to Medical Malpractice Litigation, Judge Heather Lamoureaux and Brian Devlin, QC describe the field this way: The lawyer who seeks to successfully represent plaintiffs in the highly specialized field of medical negligence litigation must attain
Mental Injuries – The Mustapha Framework
Mustapha v. Culli-gan, 2008 SCC 27 involved a claim for mental injury after the plaintiff found a dead fly in a bottle of water supplied by the defendant, leading to depression, phobia and anxiety. In this case, the Supreme Court of Canada set out the framework for establishing a claim for mental injury: DID THE
Adverse Inference – Failure to Call a Treating Physician
The law of adverse inference allows the court, in certain circumstances, to presume that a party has failed to call a certain witness because that witness would not have helped the party’s case. In medical malpractice, as well as other injury litigation, adverse inferences are often sought against a plaintiff for failing to call his
Can the Defense talk to your Doctor?
The leading case in British Columbia regarding communication between counsel for the defendants and a plaintiff’s treating physicians is Swirski v Hachey. Swirski was a motor vehicle case in which the plaintiff alleged ongoing disabling injuries including a brain injury causing epileptic seizures. Defence counsel sought to informally interview the plaintiff’s four neurologists, at least some