In Denman v. Radovanovic, the Ontario Court of Appeal unanimously upheld the trial judge’s decision to find all three defendant physicians liable for failing to obtain Mr. Denman’s informed consent to an elective and multi-step plan of medical intervention to cure Mr. Denman’s brain arteriovenous malformation (“AVM”). This summary will focus on five key takeaways from the Court of Appeal’s decision, written by Rouleau J.A.
In November 2017, J.E. was walking on a sidewalk in Waterloo when he was injured by a bus stop sign that was protruding into his path. He claimed damages for injuries including concussion, depression and anxiety. In 2023, J.E. was subsequently hospitalized, diagnosed with and treated for schizophrenia.
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.
In Security National Insurance Co v. Thomas, the insurer paid income replacement benefits to the insured, Aklilu Thomas, following a collision that occurred on June 1, 2018. Partial repayment of benefits was subsequently sought by the insurer and the dispute went to the Licence Appeal Tribunal (the “LAT”).
The applicant, Vinh Thanh Du, was injured in an automobile collision on February 14, 2020. He sought benefits from his car insurer, Economical Insurance. Economical denied treatment plans for physiotherapy and massage therapy on the basis that the applicant’s injuries fall within the Minor Injury Guideline (“MIG”). A claimant is confined to the MIG if they sustain primarily minor injuries in the subject accident.
This ruling involves a motion brought by the defendant for leave to call more than three experts at trial, and more specifically, a physiatrist and an orthopaedic surgeon.
