Sara Megan Kushner

The respondent Board brought a motion in a judicial review proceeding to add the subject physician as a party respondent, seal third-party medical records inadvertently included in the record, and strike the self-represented applicant's affidavit, application record, and factum.

The court granted the requests to add the physician and seal the records on consent.

The court struck the applicant's affidavit and portions of her application record as they raised irrelevant policy issues and complaints unrelated to the specific decision under review.

The court declined to strike the factum, finding it provided a manageable summary of the applicant's position for the hearing panel.

The plaintiffs in a long-standing medical malpractice action sought an adjournment of an 8-week jury trial, scheduled to commence April 15, 2019, due to a recent breakdown in counsel-client relationship and subsequent change of solicitors.

The defendants opposed the adjournment, emphasizing the age of the action, extensive trial preparation, and the significant delay a new trial date would entail.

The court, while expressing reluctance and noting that the change of counsel at the eleventh hour did not constitute an "exceptional circumstance" under the Toronto practice direction, ultimately granted the adjournment on terms.

This decision was influenced by the complexity of the medical negligence case and the involvement of a party under disability, necessitating new counsel sufficient time to review the file and address critical issues like Medicare and Medicaid.

The appellants appealed the dismissal of their medical malpractice claim against a family physician for alleged negligence in prenatal care that resulted in the infant appellant being born with cerebral palsy.

The appellants argued the trial judge erred in rejecting their theories that the mother suffered from pre-eclampsia or elevated blood pressure, and that the physician was negligent in failing to induce labour or refer her to an obstetrician.

The Court of Appeal found no palpable and overriding error in the trial judge's findings that the physician met the standard of care and that the appellants failed to prove causation.

The appeal was dismissed.

The plaintiffs brought a medical malpractice action alleging that the defendant family physician's negligence during the mother's pregnancy and delivery caused the infant plaintiff to be born with cerebral palsy.

The plaintiffs argued the doctor failed to properly monitor the mother's hypertension, failed to refer her to an obstetrician, and negligently prescribed enalapril, an ACE inhibitor, shortly before birth.

The Superior Court of Justice dismissed the action, finding that the doctor met the standard of care of a family physician in the circumstances and that his clinical judgments were reasonable.

Furthermore, the court concluded that the plaintiffs failed to prove on a balance of probabilities that the enalapril or the mother's hypertension caused the infant's injuries, which were likely the result of an acute intrauterine event such as cord compression.

The defendant physicians brought a motion for summary judgment arguing that a medical negligence claim arising from treatment that preceded a patient’s death from necrotizing fasciitis was statute-barred under the one‑year limitation period in s. 89 of the Regulated Health Professions Act.

The estate argued that the limitation period did not begin to run until a medical expert later reviewed the records and identified specific errors in treatment.

The court held that discoverability required knowledge of material facts establishing potential negligence, which in complex medical cases may require expert interpretation of medical records.

Because the plaintiff only obtained those material facts after receiving an expert analysis of the records, the action was commenced within the applicable limitation period.

The motion for summary judgment was dismissed.