Category: Duty of Care
-
Donoghue v Stevenson: The Snail, the Ginger Beer, and the Foundation of Every Duty of Care in Canadian Medical Malpractice Law
In August 1928, a woman in Paisley, Scotland drank ginger beer from an opaque bottle and fell ill. The bottle allegedly contained the decomposed remains of a snail. She had not bought the bottle herself; her friend had. She had no contract with the manufacturer. Under the law as it stood, she had no legal remedy.
Read more -
Malinowski v Schneider: Informed Consent, Diagnostic Standards, and Catastrophic Risk in Chiropractic Practice
Chiropractic manipulation of the lumbar spine carries risks that are rare but, when they materialize, catastrophic and permanent. The most serious is cauda equina syndrome, a compression of the bundle of nerve roots at the base of the spinal canal that can cause permanent bowel and bladder incontinence, sexual dysfunction, leg weakness, and chronic pain. It is not a theoretical risk. It is a documented consequence of lumbar spinal manipulation in patients with existing disc herniation, and it is irreversible.
Read more -
Wenden v Trikha: The Case That Defined When Psychiatrists and Hospitals Owe a Duty of Care to Strangers Their Patients Might Harm
At approximately 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 12, 1986, Johanna Wenden was driving through the intersection of 82nd Street and the Yellowhead Trail in Edmonton when a car ran the red light at high speed and struck hers. She was not at fault. She was thirty-nine years old. The collision left her with serious brain damage.
Read more
