Maria Damiano

An appeal from a motion judge's decision certifying a class action and granting partial summary judgment against an anaesthesiologist in a bacterial infection outbreak case.

The motion judge certified the class proceeding and found the defendant breached his duty of care regarding infection prevention and control practices.

The appellate court allowed the appeal on procedural fairness grounds, finding that the motion judge reformulated the certified common issue without notice to or submissions from the parties, and then decided the summary judgment motion on the basis of this new formulation.

The court held that this violated procedural fairness and entitled the defendant to a new hearing.

Dr. Stephen Rose James sought leave to appeal portions of a motion judge's order that certified a class action and defined common issues, specifically regarding the wording of the breach of standard of care common issue and the certification of punitive damages as a common issue.

The court granted leave to appeal the breach of standard of care issue, finding serious debate regarding the procedure followed when the motion judge amended the common issue post-hearing without submissions.

However, leave to appeal the punitive damages common issue was refused, as it was deemed common to the class and not an issue extending beyond the parties' interests.

The plaintiff sought certification of a class action and partial summary judgment against an anesthesiologist and a pain clinic following an outbreak of staphylococcus aureus infections among patients who received epidural injections.

The court certified the action as a class proceeding, finding the criteria under the Class Proceedings Act were met.

The court also granted partial summary judgment, finding that the physician breached his duty of care regarding infection prevention and control practices, which established general causation for the class and specific causation for patients whose infections were genetically linked to the physician.

The plaintiffs brought a medical malpractice action against the defendant cardiologist following the sudden death of a 36-year-old man who collapsed after completing a half-marathon.

The deceased had severe aortic stenosis.

The plaintiffs alleged the defendant failed to properly advise the deceased against strenuous exercise.

The court ruled that hearsay statements by the deceased regarding the doctor's advice were inadmissible for lack of threshold reliability.

The court accepted the defendant's evidence that he had advised the deceased against distance running and warned him of the risk of sudden death.

The court found the defendant met the standard of care and dismissed the action.

The plaintiff suffered a debilitating stroke and sued his family physician for medical malpractice, alleging negligence in the management of his Coumadin (blood thinner) therapy.

The court found that the physician breached the standard of care by failing to appropriately adjust the plaintiff's dosage and monitor his INR levels after subtherapeutic readings and a reported transient ischemic attack.

The court concluded that this breach caused the stroke and dismissed the defendant's claim of contributory negligence, finding the plaintiff acted reasonably.