Frequently Asked Questions

Medical malpractice is a legal term. It occurs when a healthcare professional fails to meet accepted standards of care, and that failure causes injury, worsening of a condition or death. Put a different way, to succeed in a medical malpractice case, a victim of medical mistake must prove that the healthcare professional was careless, that this carelessness caused an injury, and that the patient suffered damages as a result.

Medical malpractice can occur due to errors in diagnosis, surgical mistakes, medication errors, or other forms of substandard treatment. 

We cannot determine if you have a case without some basic information which we obtain during the case intake process. That information may come from a phone call, an email, or a request generated by this website. You will then typically speak to our intake coordinator who will collect additional information.   We may need to do a detailed investigation or consult with an expert to properly advise our clients. Even then, the chances of success may change over the course of a case depending on the what facts come out.

Please note: We receive hundreds of inquiries each year from individuals seeking our help. Unfortunately, we’re not able to take on every case. To maintain the highest standard of representation, we limit the number of clients we accept so we can focus our efforts and deliver the best possible results.

We receive many more requests for assistance than we can responsibly accept. Our firm hears from hundreds of individuals each year seeking a lawyer. While we would like to be able help everyone who contacts our firm looking for assistance, we simply cannot do this without compromising our representation of other clients.

As a result, we are selective in the cases we choose to take on. In choosing cases, we generally consider the likelihood of establishing that the healthcare professional was negligent, whether that error caused material harm, the estimated damages recoverable, the complexity of the medicine, and the need to obtain justice for victims of medical mistake.

Strict deadlines apply to starting a lawsuit—these are called limitation periods. If you miss the applicable deadline, you may lose your right to sue. Because limitation laws are complex, it’s essential to speak with a lawyer about the timelines that apply to your specific situation.

In most parts of Canada the general rule is that legal action against healthcare professionals or hospitals must be started within two years of the date you knew or reasonably should have known about the mistake that injured you. In fatality cases, the deadline is typically the earlier of two years from the date of death or when the negligence was discovered. Even if the injury is discovered later, there is an ultimate limitation period of 15 years from the date the act or omission occurred. After this time, legal action is generally no longer permitted.

There are exceptions to these general rules, but they are case-specific. A lawyer can advise you on how the law applies in your circumstances.

Medical malpractice cases are highly complex and demand significant time and resources. While most of our cases resolve through settlement—often just weeks before trial—some proceed to trial and, in rare cases, through the appeals process. These matters can take up to 7 years. That said, the majority of lawsuits at our firm are resolved within 3 to 5 to complete from our initial contact with the client.