Care and Control
Sun Media
The tragic passing of Prashant Tiwari late last month while in the care of Brampton Civic Hospital is heartbreaking for friends and family.
While I cannot comment specifically about this case, I can say, in general, when someone under a disability is in the care or control of an institution they have to be kept reasonably safe. If an institution admits someone into its care, that institution has to take reasonable precautions and measures to ensure the person’s safety.
This is true for students at school, campers at camp, patients in a hospital and even gamblers at a casino. What the specific duties are vary based on the individual circumstances. If you or a loved one is hurt because of a failure to supervise, then you could have a personal injury claim against that specific institution.
The criticism constantly levelled for these types of lawsuits is: “How can institutions prevent everything?”
The short answer is, they can’t. But institutions that take on the care and responsibility of individuals have to act reasonably under the law. If that person is under a disability, the argument is the onus is even higher to prevent accidental death or injury and take greater precautions.
What is reasonable is an objective test that the courts will determine. True, we cannot prevent every tragedy but we have to reasonably try.