Category: Chronic Pain

Tracking chronic pain symptoms: There’s an app for that

by John McKiggan

One of the things I deal with every day as a personal injury lawyer in Nova Scotia are clients who have suffered significant injuries that result in long term chronic pain.

Invisible injury

Chronic pain cases can be difficult to prove because the injury is invisible. There is no X-ray that you can produce to show the client’s broken bone, no photographs of scars, and there is no such thing as a “Pain-o-Meter” to show the extent and what kind of pain the client is suffering.

Continue reading →

Posted in: Chronic Pain, Personal Injury, Uncategorized

Anti-inflammatory Drug Dangers: Doctors recommend recall of popular drug

by John McKiggan

Researchers have requested that the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug Diclofenac be taken off shelves due to increased heart risks.

The drug, is sold under many brand names including Cataflam, Voltaren and Voltarol, and is only available by prescription in Canada and the United States.

Diclofenac is sold over-the-counter in many other countries including the U.K., Australia and Japan.

Continue reading →

Posted in: Chronic Pain, Drug Injuries, Product Liability, Uncategorized

Court of Appeal Upholds Record Award for Chronic Pain – Degennaro v. Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital

by John McKiggan

The Ontario Court of Appeal recently released its reasons in Degennaro v. Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital. The Court of Appeal confirmed a $3 million compensation award for chronic pain stemming from a slip and fall injury.

As far as I can tell, the decision is the largest compensatory damage award from chronic pain in Canada.

Diane Degennaro was visiting her son who was a patient at the Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital. A nurse at the hospital offered Ms. Degennaro a bed to sleep in while she was staying with her son. When Ms. Degennaro sat on the bed it collapsed and she fractured her sacrum (the pointed bone at the base of the spine).

Continue reading →

Posted in: Causation, Chronic Pain, Personal Injury, Slip and Fall Injuries, Spinal Cord Injuries, Uncategorized