The appellants appealed a jury verdict in a medical malpractice action arising from the death of Kerry Samms from cancer.
The jury found that the defendants, including the family physician Dr. Wilraad Lottering, had not fallen below the standard of care.
The appellants challenged the trial judge's jury instructions on two grounds: (1) the standard of care instruction, arguing the jury was improperly directed to rely solely on expert evidence and could not apply common sense to determine whether standard medical practices were themselves negligent; and (2) the error of judgment instruction, arguing it was inappropriate in a case involving administrative failures rather than clinical judgment.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding that when read contextually, the jury instructions properly conveyed the applicable legal principles and that the jury would have understood they could apply common sense to assess whether standard practices were negligent.
