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Practice Areas · Medical Malpractice

When medical care
causes lasting harm,
we hold it to account.

Davidson Cahill Morrison LLP represents patients and families across Ontario in serious medical negligence claims. These cases are complex and vigorously defended. We build them to win.

Request a consultation Call (416) 360-1194
Group LeadPaul Cahill, Partner and LSO Certified Specialist in Civil Litigation
RecognitionBest Lawyers in Canada for Medical Negligence since 2021
Track RecordTrial results including an $11.5 million judgment for a child with cerebral palsy

The Practice

Achieving successful outcomes in challenging medical malpractice lawsuits is what I do best. Paul Cahill, Partner

A serious medical error can change everything: a birth injury that leaves a child with lifelong needs, a cancer that goes undiagnosed until it is too late, a routine surgery that ends in catastrophe. When that happens, families are left with questions, mounting costs, and a health-care system that does not always explain what went wrong.

Partner Paul Cahill leads the medical malpractice group at Davidson Cahill Morrison LLP, working alongside associate Hudson Chalmers. We act only for injured patients and their families, never for hospitals or insurers. Our focus is narrow on purpose: medical negligence is one of the most demanding and technical areas of civil litigation, and it rewards lawyers who do it often and do it well.

We take cases from across Ontario. If you are wondering whether what happened to you or someone you love amounts to malpractice, the most useful first step is a conversation. You can read our overview on whether you can sue, or contact us directly.

The Standard

A bad outcome is not the same as malpractice

Medicine carries risk, and not every disappointing result is the product of negligence. Skilled physicians can do everything correctly and a patient can still come to harm. The law recognizes this. A medical malpractice claim is not about second-guessing a difficult judgment call with the benefit of hindsight. It is about care that fell below the standard the profession itself expects, and that caused real injury as a result.

To succeed, an injured patient must establish four things. Each is genuinely contested in most cases, and the burden rests on the patient throughout.

ELEMENT ONE

A duty of care

The relationship between a health-care provider and a patient gives rise to a legal duty to take reasonable care. This element is rarely in dispute once treatment has begun.

ELEMENT TWO

A breach of the standard of care

The care must have fallen below what a reasonably competent provider in the same field would have done in the circumstances. What that standard required is a question for qualified medical experts, not for the court on its own.

ELEMENT THREE

Causation

The breach must have caused the injury. The patient must show that, but for the negligence, the harm would not have occurred. This is often the hardest element to prove, and the one most heavily fought.

ELEMENT FOUR

Damages

There must be real harm and real loss: physical injury, the cost of care, lost income, and the human toll of all of it. Without compensable damage, there is no claim, however careless the conduct.

Where We Act

The cases we take on

Our work spans the full range of serious medical negligence. Some of the matters we are most often retained on include the following. If your situation is not listed, it does not mean we cannot help, so please ask.

Obstetrics

Birth trauma and birth injury

Obstetrical and neonatal negligence causing hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and cerebral palsy, including injuries linked to delayed delivery and mismanaged labour.

Maternity

Midwifery negligence

Failures in midwife-led care during pregnancy, labour and delivery, and in the recognition and escalation of a deteriorating mother or baby.

Surgery

Surgical errors

Negligence in gynaecology, urology, general, neuro, vascular, orthopaedic and other surgery, including wrong-site and retained-instrument "never events."

Recovery

Post-operative care

A failure to monitor, recognize or respond to post-surgical complications such as bleeding, infection or compartment syndrome before they become catastrophic.

Emergency

Emergency room delay

Missed or delayed diagnosis in the emergency department, where minutes matter. See When Seconds Count.

Diagnosis

Misdiagnosis and delay

Cancer and other serious conditions that are missed, misread or left to progress, including failures to follow up on abnormal imaging and test results.

Neurology

Stroke misdiagnosis

Neurological emergencies and strokes that are not recognized or treated in time, costing patients the window for intervention.

Medication

Medication errors

Prescribing, dispensing and administration errors, dangerous drug interactions, and dosing mistakes that cause avoidable harm.

Consent

Lack of informed consent

Treatment that proceeds without proper disclosure of the material risks a reasonable patient would have wanted to know before agreeing.

Institutional

Hospital falls and neglect

Negligent supervision, falls, pressure injuries and other harm arising from inadequate institutional care.

Long-Term Care

Nursing home negligence

Substandard care of vulnerable and elderly residents, including neglect, inadequate staffing and failures of basic monitoring.

Trial Counsel

Counsel to other lawyers

For select matters, Paul Cahill acts as trial counsel to other firms in medical malpractice and serious personal injury claims headed to court.

How These Cases Are Decided

Why medical negligence is fought so hard

Physicians in Canada are generally defended by the Canadian Medical Protective Association, a well-resourced organization that retains experienced defence counsel and its own roster of expert witnesses. Hospitals carry their own insurers and counsel. A patient who brings a claim is, in practice, taking on a defence that is well funded and rarely settles cheaply. That reality shapes everything about how a case must be prepared.

The decisive battles tend to be fought over two of the four elements: the standard of care and causation.

Standard of care

The court does not decide on its own what proper care looked like. In a medical negligence case the standard is proved through the evidence of qualified experts in the relevant specialty, who explain what a reasonably competent provider would have done. Where a defendant followed an accepted practice, that ordinarily weighs in their favour, although a court can still find an accepted practice itself negligent where it carries obvious and avoidable risks. The leading authority is ter Neuzen v Korn (Supreme Court of Canada, 1995).

Because the standard turns on specialty-specific expert evidence, the identity and quality of the experts we retain often decides the case.

Causation

It is not enough to show that care was substandard. The patient must connect the breach to the injury. The general test asks whether, but for the negligence, the harm would have happened anyway, as set out in Clements v Clements (Supreme Court of Canada, 2012). Causation need not be proven with scientific certainty: a court may draw a common-sense inference from the whole of the evidence, following Snell v Farrell (Supreme Court of Canada, 1990). In delayed-diagnosis and emergency cases, the fight is usually about what would have changed if the right step had been taken in time.

Informed consent

A separate line of claim arises where a patient was not given the information they needed to make a real decision. A provider must disclose the material risks of a proposed treatment, including risks a reasonable person in the patient's position would want to weigh. If a material risk was not disclosed and then came to pass, the question is whether a reasonable patient, properly informed, would have declined or chosen differently. The governing case is Reibl v Hughes (Supreme Court of Canada, 1980).

The cases above are leading decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada and are binding throughout Ontario. This page describes the legal framework in general terms. How these principles apply to any particular set of facts, and what the standard of care required in a given case, depends on the medical evidence and on advice tailored to your situation.

What a Claim Can Recover

Compensation in a medical malpractice claim

The purpose of a civil claim is to put the injured person, so far as money can, in the position they would have been in had the negligence never happened. In a catastrophic case that figure can be very large, because the biggest components are usually the lifetime cost of care and lost earning capacity, neither of which is capped.

Pecuniary damages (no cap)

These are the measurable financial losses, and there is no legal ceiling on them. They can include the past and future cost of medical treatment, attendant and personal care, therapy and rehabilitation, assistive equipment, home and vehicle modifications, lost income to date, and the loss of future earning capacity. In serious cases the future-care and income components are what drive awards into the millions.

Non-pecuniary damages (subject to a cap)

These compensate for pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life. Across Canada the Supreme Court has set an upper limit on this category, established in the 1978 "trilogy" (Andrews v Grand & Toy Alberta Ltd, Thornton v School District No. 57, and Arnold v Teno) at $100,000 in 1978 dollars. That figure is indexed for inflation and now sits in the range of roughly $400,000 to $470,000, and the maximum is reserved for the most devastating injuries.

Claims by family members

Under Ontario's Family Law Act, close family members can advance their own claims arising from the injury or death of a loved one. These can include compensation for the loss of the care, guidance and companionship they would have received, out-of-pocket expenses, and the value of nursing and other care they provide. Where negligence causes a death, the family's claim is often a significant part of the case.

Deadlines

How long you have to bring a claim

Ontario's Limitations Act, 2002 sets the deadlines, and they are strict. The basic limitation period is two years. Importantly, the clock does not necessarily start on the day the treatment went wrong. Under the "discoverability" rule it starts when you knew, or ought reasonably to have known, the material facts that point to a possible claim, the standard the Supreme Court of Canada described in Grant Thornton LLP v New Brunswick (2021). In many medical cases this can be later than the date of treatment, because the connection between the care and the harm may not be apparent until a supportive expert opinion is obtained. That said, discoverability is fact-specific and is not a guarantee of extra time.

Several important qualifications apply:

  • Minors. For a child, the two-year clock does not run while they are under 18 and unrepresented by a litigation guardian. This matters greatly in birth-injury cases.
  • Incapable persons. The clock is suspended for someone who is incapable of bringing a claim because of a disability and who is not represented by a litigation guardian.
  • The ultimate limitation period. Subject to the exceptions above, a separate outer limit bars most claims 15 years after the act or omission, regardless of when the harm was discovered.

Because the deadlines can be earlier or later than people expect, and because building a medical case takes time, the safest course is to seek advice as soon as you suspect something went wrong. Even if you believe a great deal of time has passed, it is worth asking.

Our Approach

How we build a case

Every matter is different, but serious medical negligence claims tend to move through the same stages. We tell clients early what to expect, because these cases reward patience and thorough preparation.

Listen and review the records

We start with your account of what happened and a careful review of the complete medical record. This is where the questions that decide a case first take shape.

Obtain independent expert opinion

We retain qualified specialists to assess the standard of care and causation. An honest, supportive expert opinion is the foundation of any viable claim, and we will tell you frankly what the evidence shows.

Issue the claim

If the case is sound, we commence the lawsuit by issuing a statement of claim, mindful always of the limitation period.

Documentary and oral discovery

Both sides exchange documents and are examined under oath. This is where the defence theory is tested and where much of the case is won or lost.

Mediation and negotiation

Most claims resolve before trial. We pursue settlement from a position of strength, on terms that reflect the full value of your losses, and never out of a reluctance to go to court.

Trial

When a fair resolution cannot be reached, we are trial lawyers. Paul Cahill has tried and won serious medical negligence cases, and that willingness and ability to take a case to a verdict shapes every negotiation that comes before it.

Fees and Access

Representation on a contingency fee basis

We believe everyone should have access to quality legal representation, regardless of their financial situation. For medical malpractice claims we offer competitive, sliding-scale contingency fee representation, so the cost of pursuing a claim is not a barrier to justice.

Given the cost and complexity of this work, only select matters can be offered a contingency fee agreement. Whether we can act on that basis is something we will discuss candidly with you at the outset.

  • You pay us nothing unless we win or settle your case.
  • The earlier your case resolves, the less you pay in legal fees.
  • If we do not succeed, you owe us nothing, not even disbursements.
  • A consultation to find out where you stand carries no obligation.

A Common Question

A complaint to the College is not a lawsuit

Many patients first approach the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) or another regulatory college. That process is important, but it is different from a civil claim. The college can investigate a provider's conduct and impose professional discipline, but it does not award you compensation for your losses. A civil lawsuit is the route to financial recovery. The two processes are separate and can proceed at the same time.

Our team can offer guidance on the regulatory side as well. If you are considering a complaint, you may find our explainer useful: How to make a complaint to the CPSO.

The People

Who will handle your case

Medical malpractice at Davidson Cahill Morrison LLP is led by Paul Cahill, working closely with Hudson Chalmers. You will deal with the lawyers doing the work, not a rotating cast.

Partner · Group Lead

Paul Cahill

"Achieving successful outcomes in challenging medical malpractice lawsuits is what I do best."

Paul's advocacy inside and outside the courtroom has earned his recognition by the Law Society of Ontario as a Certified Specialist in Civil Litigation. He has been named in Best Lawyers in Canada for Medical Negligence and Personal Injury Litigation since 2021. His trial results include an $11.5 million judgment for medical malpractice causing cerebral palsy, and a judgment against a negligent emergency room physician arising from the death of a 34-year-old mother of four, later upheld on appeal in Shaw Estate v Handler.

A past director of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association and past chair of its Medical Malpractice Section, Paul is a frequent speaker on medical negligence and causation, and was called to the Ontario bar in 2005.

Read Paul's full profile
Associate

Hudson Chalmers

"Advocating with purpose and compassion."

Hudson's practice covers personal injury and insurance litigation, with a particular interest in medical malpractice. He takes pride in understanding both sides of a dispute and applying that insight to his clients' advantage. He has served as a judge for medical malpractice moot and mock-trial competitions, including at the University of Toronto and Western Law.

Hudson earned his Bachelor of Arts in History from Queen's University (2016) and his Juris Doctor from the University of Windsor, Faculty of Law (2019), and was called to the bar in 2020 after articling with the firm.

Read Hudson's full profile

Standing

Recognition that reflects results

$11.5M
Judgment for medical malpractice causing cerebral palsy against a negligent doctor.
Since 2021
Paul Cahill named in Best Lawyers in Canada for Medical Negligence and Personal Injury Litigation.
Certified
Recognized by the Law Society of Ontario as a Certified Specialist in Civil Litigation.

Questions Patients Ask

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if I have a medical malpractice case?

You may not, until the records are reviewed. A poor outcome on its own is not enough. There must be care that fell below the standard of a reasonably competent provider, and that breach must have caused your injury. We assess this with the help of independent medical experts and will give you our honest view of what the evidence shows.

How long do I have to start a claim?

The basic deadline in Ontario is two years, but it can run from when you discovered (or reasonably should have discovered) the facts pointing to a claim, rather than from the date of treatment. Different rules apply to minors and to people who are incapable, and a separate 15-year outer limit also applies in most cases. Because the timing is rarely obvious, it is best to ask early.

What will it cost me to hire you?

We act on a competitive, sliding-scale contingency fee basis for the medical malpractice matters we take on. You pay no legal fees unless we win or settle, and if we do not succeed you owe nothing, not even disbursements. The earlier a case resolves, the less you pay. An initial consultation is without obligation.

Is suing the same as complaining to the CPSO?

No. A complaint to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario can lead to an investigation and professional discipline, but it does not compensate you for your losses. A civil lawsuit is how you recover money. The two are separate and can run at the same time.

How much is my claim worth?

It depends entirely on the injury and its consequences. The largest awards come from the lifetime cost of care and lost earning capacity, which are not capped. Compensation for pain and suffering is subject to a national limit set by the Supreme Court of Canada. No responsible lawyer can promise a figure before the evidence is gathered, and we will not.

How long will my case take?

Serious medical negligence cases are document-heavy, expert-driven and vigorously defended, so they generally take time, often several years, before they resolve. We keep you informed at each stage. You may find our note on how long a claim takes to settle helpful.

A family member died because of negligent care. Can we make a claim?

Yes. Where negligence causes a death, close family members can bring claims under Ontario's Family Law Act for the loss of care, guidance and companionship, along with related expenses. These claims are often a substantial part of a case. We approach them with the sensitivity they require.

Do you take cases outside Toronto?

Yes. We represent patients and families across Ontario. Distance is not an obstacle to working with our team.

Speak With Our Team

Find out where you stand

If you believe you or someone you love was harmed by negligent medical care, contact Davidson Cahill Morrison LLP. The first conversation is straightforward, confidential and without obligation, and it is the fastest way to understand your options.

Request a consultation Call (416) 360-1194

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