Dr. James Waddell

The plaintiffs, Daniele Marthe Hutterli and Charles Hutterli, brought a medical negligence action against Dr. Douglas Scott, alleging he failed to meet the standard of care in assessing Mrs. Hutterli's ankle injury.

Mrs. Hutterli sustained an ankle fracture but was misdiagnosed with a sprain, leading to delayed treatment.

The plaintiffs claimed increased cartilage damage and higher risk of osteoarthritis due to the delay.

The court found that Dr. Scott met the standard of care in applying the Ottawa Ankle Rules, despite the misdiagnosis, concluding it was an error in judgment, not negligence.

Furthermore, the court found the plaintiffs failed to prove causation or damages, as there was no evidence that the alleged harm (increased cartilage damage, osteoarthritis risk) was caused by the delay, rather than the original fracture, or that a better outcome would have resulted.

The action was dismissed.

The plaintiffs (Moles) and defendant (Manwell) brought cross-motions regarding the admissibility and number of expert witnesses in a medical negligence case.

The Moles sought to restrict Manwell to one expert, while Manwell sought to preclude the Moles' expert (Schatzker) from testifying on a novel surgical technique or, alternatively, to allow all three of his experts to testify if Schatzker's evidence was admitted.

The court found Schatzker's novel evidence on the modified surgical technique to have sufficient threshold reliability for admission.

Consequently, the Moles' motion to restrict Manwell's experts was dismissed, and Manwell was permitted to call all three of his proposed expert witnesses.