Halifax Medical Malpractice Lawyer Blog

Nearly a quarter of Canadian adults (5.2 million people) report that they, or a member of their family, have experienced a preventable adverse event (lawyer speak for medical malpractice) according to a report released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

In Canada, most doctors are defended by a single organization, the Canadian Medical Protection Association (the C.M.P.A.). According to their most recent annual report, the C.M.P.A. has TWO POINT NINE (2.9) BILLION DOLLARS in reserves (money in the bank). The C.M.P.A. uses this money to hire the best experts and lawyers money can buy. Canadian victims of medical malpractice have an almost insurmountable challenge in the face of such overwhelming financial odds.

Some Frightening Statistics:

• The C.M.P.A.’s annual reports brag about its success rate in defending claims brought against doctors. Between 2002 and 2006 over 5000 lawsuits were filed against doctors in Canada. More than 3800 of those claims were dismissed or abandoned because the victim or his or her family, either quit, ran out of money or died before trial.

• The C.M.P.A. settled 229 claims out of court (usually after several years of litigation and just before trial).

• Of the 577 cases that went to trial only 121 resulted in a verdict for the Plaintiff victim. So in the last five years, only twenty percent (20%) of malpractice victims actually won at trial.

• For those few victims who won at trial, the median damage award was only $95,500.00.

• Of more than 5000 lawsuits filed against doctors in the last five years, only two percent (2%) resulted in trial verdicts for the victim.

In other words, 98% of Canadian medical malpractice victims never receive a penny in compensation!

Continue reading " Only 2% of Canadian Medical Malpractice Victims Receive Compensation! " »

As many as 24,000 Canadian patients die each year due to “adverse events” (medical code words for medical malpractice).

What are we going to do about it?

A report published by the Canadian Medical Association Journal entitled: "The Canadian Adverse Events Study: the incidence of adverse events in hospital patients in Canada" confirmed the findings of similar studies in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Denmark and New Zealand.

Some of the findings include:

• As many as 24,000 patients die each year due to “adverse events”.
• 87,500 patients admitted annually to Canadian acute care hospitals experience an adverse event.
• 1 in 13 adult patients admitted to a Canadian hospital encounter an adverse event.
• 1 in 19 adults will potentially be given the wrong medication or wrong medication dosage.
• 37% of adverse events are “highly” preventable.
• 24% of preventable adverse events are related to medication error.
• The most common areas for an adverse event to occur was surgery followed by medicine related errors.

The sad fact is that most victims of medical malpractice do not even know they have been the victim of medical negligence because in most provinces in Canada there is no law that requires doctors and nurses to report medical errors to their patients!

In Nova Scotia the Department of Health has adopted a Disclosure of Adverse Events Policy that requires "organizations providing health care" to have a:

...process in place to promptly inform clients of pertinent facts associated with adverse events.

Policies are fine but if the "organization providing health care" never finds out about a medical error because a doctor or nurse has covered it up then how does that protect patients?

Until there is a statutory duty on doctors and nurses to report medical errors, and sanctions for those that don't, patient safety is going to take second place to the self interest of who have committed errors and are afraid to be held accountable.

Continue reading " Medical Malpractice Kills More Than 24,000 Canadians Each Year " »

Doctors don't report their medical errors, even when they think they should, according to a study from the University of Iowa.

Washington D.C. lawyer Patrick Malone posted about the study on his Patient Safety Blog.

The author of the study said that:

...he was encouraged that most of the doctors believed reporting errors was an important way to improve health care quality. But he said he was troubled by the fact that fewer than half of them would have reported the hypothetical error if it didn't cause problems.

I am not aware of any Canadian studies that have specifically addressed this question. There is no reason to think that doctors in Canada feel different than their American counter-parts. However, the study does confirm the point that I made in a previous post. Until there are legal requirements to report medical errors and sanctions for those that do not, there will always be those that put self interest above patient safety.