This action arose from a 2014 fatality of a 51-year-old man following a splenic rupture. The plaintiffs were the spouse and sons of a patient who was cleared to return to work in rural Ontario after having been admitted to hospital for abdominal trauma, including a broken rib, from falling at home while doing renovations. The defendants at trial were the general surgeon who saw the patient in hospital and the family physician who saw the patient in follow-up after he was discharged. The patient died of a splenic rupture 14 days after the fall that brought him into the hospital.
Willick v. Willard, 2023 ONCA 792
