When a doctor, nurse, hospital, or clinic fails to provide the care Albertans are entitled to expect, the harm can reach every part of a life: health, work, family, and finances. The team of lawyers at Diamond and Diamond have experience handling medical malpractice claims and can help you understand your rights and your options.

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$1B+Recovered in gross settlements since 2013*
2Alberta offices: Edmonton and Calgary
24/7Free consultations

Legal Help After Medical Harm in Alberta

Most medical care in Alberta is delivered safely. When it is not, the consequences can be devastating: a cancer that spreads because a scan was misread, an infection left untreated after surgery, or a baby injured during a delivery that was not properly monitored. When care falls below the accepted standard and causes harm, Alberta law allows patients and families to seek compensation from those responsible.

These claims are demanding. They depend on complete medical records, opinions from qualified medical professionals, and a clear link between what went wrong and the harm that followed. Speaking with a lawyer early helps you understand whether you have a claim before important deadlines pass.

The team of lawyers at Diamond and Diamond have experience handling medical malpractice claims. Call our 24/7 injury hotline at 1-800-567-HURT or complete the form for a free case evaluation.

*Past results are not necessarily indicative of future results and the amount recovered and other litigation outcomes will vary according to the facts in individual cases.

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Offices in Edmonton and Calgary, Serving All of Alberta

Wherever your care took place, from a Calgary emergency department to a community hospital in northern Alberta, you can reach our team by phone at any hour of the day or night.

Alberta head office

Edmonton

4246 97 Street NW, Unit 103
Edmonton, Alberta

Serving the Edmonton region and communities across central and northern Alberta.

24/7 injury hotline: 1-800-567-HURT

Southern Alberta

Calgary

1331 Macleod Trail SE, Suite 645
Calgary, Alberta

Serving the Calgary region and communities across southern Alberta.

24/7 injury hotline: 1-800-567-HURT

Communities we serve

Edmonton
Calgary
Red Deer
Lethbridge
St. Albert
Medicine Hat
Grande Prairie
Airdrie
Fort McMurray
Camrose
Lloydminster

What Makes Medical Care Negligent in Alberta?

Health care providers must meet the standard of care of a reasonably prudent practitioner with the same training, in similar circumstances. A family physician is measured against other family physicians, and a surgeon against other surgeons in the same field. The law does not demand perfection, and a poor outcome on its own does not mean anyone was negligent.

What a claim generally needs to show

A duty of care: The provider or organization was responsible for your care.
A breach of the standard: The care fell below what a reasonably careful provider would have done.
Harm: You suffered an injury or loss.
Causation: The substandard care caused that harm.

An example

A patient arrives at an emergency department with chest pain and is sent home without an ECG. Hours later, they have a heart attack. A claim would ask whether a reasonably careful emergency physician would have ordered the test and whether an earlier diagnosis would have prevented or reduced the damage.

Clinician reviewing a chart with a patient

Who Is Responsible? Alberta's Changing Health System

Identifying every party responsible for your care is one of the first steps in an Alberta medical malpractice claim, and the province's health system makes that more complicated than many people expect. Alberta Health Services continues to operate many of the province's hospitals, while organizations such as Covenant Health operate others. Your care may also have involved an independent family practice, a walk-in clinic, or a chartered surgical facility: a privately owned clinic that performs publicly funded surgery. A CBC News review of Alberta Health data found that 22 per cent of the scheduled surgeries recorded in 2024 took place in these facilities.

Since late 2023, the province has been reorganizing health care around new provincial health agencies, including Primary Care Alberta, Acute Care Alberta, Recovery Alberta, and Assisted Living Alberta. For patients, the changes can make it harder to tell which organization was responsible for a particular part of their care, and where to request their records.

Who employed the people involved also matters. Physicians often work as independent professionals with privileges at a hospital, while nurses and other staff are usually employed by the facility or health organization. That distinction can shape who is responsible for a particular error, which is why a careful review of your records matters from the start.

Exterior of an Alberta hospital or health centre

A practical first step

Your Health Records Are Yours to Request

Under Alberta's Health Information Act, you have the right to access a copy of your health information held by a custodian, such as a hospital, clinic, or physician, subject to limited exceptions. Requests are made in writing to the custodian you believe holds the records, and a fee may apply.

Ask for complete records, including emergency, surgical, nursing, medication, and imaging records. They are central to any review of what happened, and having them early helps a lawyer assess your situation.

Complaint or Claim? Your Options After Medical Harm in Alberta

Each process does a different job, and only one is designed to compensate you for what you have lost.

A Civil Claim

What it does: Seeks financial compensation from the providers or organizations responsible, for losses such as income, future care, and pain and suffering.
Designed to compensate you?: Yes
Who decides it: Alberta's civil courts, unless the claim resolves through settlement.

A Regulatory Complaint

What it does: Asks the CPSA, the CRNA, or another college to review a member's conduct. Outcomes can include education, conditions on practice, or discipline.
Designed to compensate you?: No
Who decides it: The college that regulates the profession.

A Health Organization Concern

What it does: Raises your concerns with the patient relations office of the hospital or organization that provided your care, which may review what happened and respond.
Designed to compensate you?: No
Who decides it: The health organization itself.

These options are not mutually exclusive. The CPSA notes on its complaint form that its process can take months to years and that it cannot offer legal advice. Speaking with a lawyer early can help you understand how these processes relate to a potential claim.

Physicians Have Powerful Legal Support. Patients Deserve the Same.

When an Alberta physician faces a malpractice claim, their defence is typically provided through the Canadian Medical Protective Association (CMPA), a national mutual defence organization that gives legal assistance to its physician members. Hospitals and health organizations have their own insurers and legal counsel.

That imbalance is real. Medical malpractice claims are evidence-heavy and hard-fought, and patients and families deserve a legal team with the experience and resources to see a claim through.

The team of lawyers at Diamond and Diamond have experience handling medical malpractice claims and can explain what to expect at each stage of the process.

Lawyer meeting with a client and a family member

Harmed by Medical Care in Alberta? Call Us Today.

Speak with our team 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Consultations are free.

1-800-567-HURT

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What Compensation Can Cover in an Alberta Claim

Compensation is meant to place you, as closely as money can, in the position you would have been in had the negligence not happened. Depending on the circumstances, it may include past and future lost income, the cost of treatment, rehabilitation, and care, home or vehicle modifications, out-of-pocket expenses, and damages for pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life.

Damages for pain and suffering in Canada are subject to an upper limit, adjusted for inflation, that the Supreme Court of Canada set in 1978 in a trilogy of cases that included Andrews v. Grand & Toy Alberta Ltd., a case that began in Alberta. In serious cases, financial losses (particularly future care and lost earning capacity) often make up the largest part of a claim.

Every claim is different. Its value depends on the medical evidence, the severity and permanence of the harm, and how it affects your work, your family, and your daily life.

A person with a disability at home with family

Alberta Medical Malpractice

Areas of Focus

The team of lawyers at Diamond and Diamond have experience handling a wide range of medical malpractice claims. Select an area to learn more.