Ron Bohm

The plaintiff suffered a fractured femur and a pulseless leg following a motorcycle accident.

He was treated in the emergency room by the defendant physician, who failed to urgently transfer him to a trauma centre or communicate the pulseless nature of the limb to the trauma team leader.

Due to the delay in transfer, the plaintiff's leg became unsalvageable and was amputated.

The court found the defendant physician breached the standard of care and that this breach caused the amputation.

The court awarded the agreed-upon damages without deduction for statutory accident benefits or OHIP subrogated claims.

The plaintiffs brought a medical malpractice action against a pathologist for failing to diagnose appendiceal cancer from an appendectomy specimen in 2011.

The patient was later diagnosed with stage IV cancer in 2015 and died in 2016.

The court found that the pathologist breached the standard of care, as the cancer was obvious and should have been identified.

The court also found that but for the delayed diagnosis, the patient would likely have been cured with standard treatment.

The court awarded pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages to the estate and family members.

Following a five-week common issues trial in a medical malpractice class action, the plaintiff was entirely successful against the main defendant doctor.

The doctor had crossclaimed against several nurse defendants, but those claims were entirely unsuccessful.

The court ordered the doctor to pay the plaintiff's agreed-upon costs within 30 days, rejecting his argument to defer payment until individual trials were completed.

The court also made a Sanderson/Bullock order, requiring the doctor to pay the costs of the successful nurse defendants on a partial indemnity scale up to the date of their offers to settle, and on a substantial indemnity scale thereafter.

The plaintiff brought a class action against an anesthesiologist, a pain clinic, and its nursing staff following an outbreak of bacterial meningitis and epidural abscesses among patients who received epidural injections.

The court found that the anesthesiologist breached the standard of care and his fiduciary duties by failing to use proper aseptic techniques, failing to report and investigate infections, and misinforming patients about the risks.

The court drew an inference of causation linking the anesthesiologist's substandard infection prevention and control practices to the patients' infections.

The claims against the nursing staff were dismissed as there was no evidence they breached the standard of care.

The court also found the anesthesiologist's conduct warranted punitive damages.

The plaintiff underwent bariatric surgery performed by the defendant.

The defendant took down a prior fundoplication without the plaintiff's informed consent, causing severe acid reflux that ultimately required the removal of the plaintiff's stomach.

The court found the defendant breached the standard of care by performing a contraindicated surgery without adequate experience and without obtaining informed consent.

The limitation period defence failed as the plaintiff only discovered the cause of her injuries later.

The court awarded general damages and Family Law Act damages to the plaintiffs.

A trial management conference was held to provide directions for an upcoming 10-day virtual trial.

The action was proceeding against only one defendant, the others having been dismissed.

The court provided directions regarding the use of a shared document folder, the preparation of trial materials including an Agreed Statement of Facts and Joint Document Book, and the completion of a Report to Trial Judge.

The court also scheduled a practice run for the virtual platform and provided guidance on managing exhibits and video presence during the trial.

Following a 70-day medical malpractice jury trial where the plaintiff was awarded $3.75 million in damages, the court determined the appropriate quantum of costs.

The plaintiff sought over $3.3 million in costs and disbursements, while the defendants argued for a significantly lower amount, citing proportionality and excessive hours.

The court analyzed the Rule 57 factors, noting the complexity of the case, the necessity of extensive preparation by plaintiff's counsel, and the fact that defence costs themselves exceeded $3.2 million.

The court fixed the plaintiff's costs at $2,404,765 for fees and $628,387 for disbursements, totaling $3,033,152.

During a medical malpractice jury trial, the defendant physicians sought leave under Rule 53.08 to file a supplementary expert report and to elicit testimony from their experts on matters not explicitly stated in their reports.

The court denied leave for the supplementary report, finding it failed to comply with Rule 53.03 by omitting the reasons for its conclusions, and its admission would cause undue prejudice to the plaintiffs.

The court also ruled on several evidentiary objections, narrowly interpreting the 'latency' principle.

The court held that experts cannot use conclusory statements in their reports to ambush opposing parties with new reasons or theories at trial, though exceptions were made where testimony directly responded to new developments during the trial.

Prior to a medical malpractice jury trial, the court ruled on several procedural and evidentiary motions.

The plaintiffs had entered into a Pierringer Agreement with the defendant hospital and nurses, leaving only the physicians as defendants.

The court ruled that both the plaintiffs and the physicians could cross-examine the settling nurses at trial.

The court also determined the sequencing and phrasing of jury questions, ruling that standard of care must be determined before causation, and permitting 'caused or contributed' language due to the presence of multiple tortfeasors.

Finally, the court allowed the plaintiffs to use photographs of the amputations in their opening address but restricted the experts' use of lengthy PowerPoint presentations.

In the ongoing administration of the estate of John Kaptyn, the estate trustees (Henry and Simon Kaptyn) and beneficiaries brought multiple motions due to their inability to agree on routine matters.

Henry sought the return of retained earnings from a corporation, which the court dismissed as res judicata and an abuse of process due to a prior consent judgment.

The court also addressed the timing of a $1 million compensation payment and directed the parties to confer and agree on the form of indemnification and share pledge agreements required for the distribution of estate assets to the grandchildren, warning of costs consequences for unreasonable delay.