Few in Calgary have as keen an appreciation for our medical professionals and our medical community than the legal team here at Cuming & Gillespie LLP. As one of Calgary’s leading personal injury law firms, we see clients every day who require extensive and ongoing medical care to overcome their injuries, and we work closely with physicians and other medical providers to clearly establish the extent of serious injuries and ensure our clients’ long-term needs and interests are understood by the Calgary Courts.

We also recognize that mistakes can and do occur in the medical world, though, including some mistakes that arise out of negligence and end up causing serious injury to patients. Our medical malpractice clients have suffered such injuries, and we know all too well how devastating the most severe cases of malpractice can be.

It is our goal, both as a law firm and as responsible Calgary citizens, not only to ensure that our medical malpractice clients receive the best outcome possible following their injuries, but that medical malpractice itself become ever more rare—the medical practitioners are held responsible when they make mistakes due to negligence, which encourages greater care among the medical community as a whole and which helps to bolster the respect and gratitude that the medical professional deserves on the whole.

There have been a few recent media items related to a recent study of medical malpractice in Canada, with some of these sources suggesting that a lack of transparency in the medical community is responsible, at least in part, for some cases of malpractice, and for shielding doctors, hospitals, and others from responsibility in some cases, as well. While we cannot comment on the merits of this perspective in regards to any specific case, we do agree that greater transparency in the medical community could help prevent many cases of malpractice, and would help many victims of medical malpractice receive the justice they deserve.

Certain laws, guidelines, and practices at work in the medical community actually work to prevent patients and their families from gaining information related to potential cases of medical malpractice. Some nurses and other medical support staff have reported feeling uncomfortable pointing out errors they see made by surgeons and physicians for fear of consequences to their own careers, which can lead to harm to patients. Hospital administrators also have a vested interest in limiting the information made available to the public when it comes to the in-hospital transmission of infectious diseases and other potential cases of malpractice.

In other words, there is a general culture of secrecy surrounding medical errors, and we feel that doesn’t serve anyone well—not the Calgary medical community, not Calgary citizens at large, and certainly not those who have been injured as a result of medical malpractice.

Contact a Calgary Medical Malpractice Lawyer Today

If you or a family member has been injured as a result of medical malpractice and you would like a free initial consultation with an experienced Calgary lawyer, please contact our office today.