Deanna Gilbert

The plaintiff suffered a catastrophic brain bleed and traumatic brain injury during an elective multi-step medical intervention for an asymptomatic brain AVM.

The plaintiff brought a medical negligence action against the treating physicians, alleging a failure to obtain informed consent.

The Superior Court of Justice found that the physicians failed to adequately disclose the cumulative risks of the multi-step procedure, the likelihood of requiring surgical resection, and the risks of conservative management.

The court concluded that a reasonable person in the plaintiff's position would not have proceeded with the intervention had they been properly informed, and held the physicians liable for the plaintiff's injuries.

The plaintiffs in a medical malpractice action brought a motion to exclude the defendants' expert witness, a vascular neurosurgeon and interventional neuroradiologist, on the basis of bias.

The court conducted a voir dire and reviewed the expert's reports, past testimony, and relationship with the defendant physicians.

The court found that the expert was not impartial, acted as an advocate, failed to disclose his professional and personal relationship with one of the defendants, and assumed the defendants' evidence was credible while ignoring the plaintiffs' evidence.

The court concluded that the expert was unable and unwilling to comply with his duty to the court and excluded his evidence in its entirety.

The plaintiff sued his disability insurer and two of its employees after his long-term disability benefits were terminated.

The individual employees moved to strike the claims against them for failing to disclose a reasonable cause of action, arguing they were acting within the scope of their employment.

The insurer moved to determine the order of examinations for discovery.

The court granted both motions, striking the claims against the employees without leave to amend because the plaintiff failed to plead that their actions were independently tortious or exhibited a separate identity from the employer.

The court also ordered the plaintiff to be examined first, as the insurer had served the first notice of examination.

The plaintiff sued her physician for medical malpractice, alleging he negligently managed her right forearm pain by failing to properly assess and investigate a bump that was eventually diagnosed as a rare synovial sarcoma.

The defendant physician had diagnosed repetitive strain injury and reflex sympathetic dystrophy, treating the plaintiff with psychotherapy and medication for nine years before ordering an MRI.

The Superior Court of Justice found that the defendant breached the standard of care of a primary care physician by failing to include a tumour in his differential diagnosis, failing to properly monitor the lump, and failing to order an MRI earlier.

The court also found that this breach caused the plaintiff's damages, as an earlier MRI would have led to earlier surgical removal of the tumour and eliminated years of pain.