Difficulties In Handling Medical Malpractice Cases In Canada

If you take a look at the statistics, you’d notice a disturbing revelation when it comes to medical malpractice cases in Canada in general – they are extremely rare. Every single year, there is an average of about 911 cases which are brought against physicians. Only 20 of them are won while at least 342 are settled outside of the court. At the same time, the rest of them are either won by the doctors, abandoned by the patient or entirely dismissed. Despite the logic which poises an increase in the doctor ranks by a total of 38%. However, the medical malpractice cases have decreased by 5.5%.

So, why is it hard to bring a case forward and to win it? Well, the reason hides behind a very obvious predication – money. In the entire country, doctors are protected by a $3.2 billion organization based in Ottawa called the Canadian Medical Protective Association or CMPA. This is a very powerful organization which fights adverse legal battles and vigorously defends its clients in and out of court even when the settlement is obviously the cheaper choice. With this in mind, they are easily able to go away with this particularly aggressive line of legal behavior for a range of different reasons.

First of all, medical malpractice suits are usually expensive and since lawyers usually work on contingency fees when it comes to personal injury law, they are oftentimes forced to fund the case on behalf of their clients. This is quite challenging and not a lot of people would go for it.

What is even more challenging, however, is the intimidation which stems from losing the lawsuit. When you lose a lawsuit, you are obligated to pay the legal fees for the other side – the winning one. This is regulation which is set in motion in an attempt to conveniently prevent frivolous lawsuits. However, when it comes to it in situations of the kind, the lawyers from the CMPA have particularly high fees and that’s something that the regular person can’t handle on his own. So, the lawyer, working on contingency fee, faces the risk of not only losing the amount that he’d invested in the case but also the amount that the other party invested which is quite substantial.

With this in mind, the financial dominance of the CMPA makes it incredibly challenging for victims of medical malpractice to handle their cases conveniently and this is something that you should consider very carefully. And, the most unfortunate thing is that the money for the CMPA comes, for the most part, from the Canadian people’s pocket through the taxes that they pay. It’s a vicious circle when you think about it. That is why it is absolutely important to find a lawyer that has a trail of success in this arena of tort law. Trying to file a claim on your own would be a waste of time, as only a successful lawyer with experience would be able to represent your case.