I have been absent from social media and our communities for a few months. I had a little undercover work to do in the healthcare system.  It was not voluntary! I had ovarian cancer and needed surgery. It was caught early and I should have a full recovery. Over time, I will have more to… Read more »

Listening to the Podcast, “We Can Do Hard Things” with Glennon Doyle, in Episode 118 Cheryl Strayed (author of “Wild” and other best-selling books) said that the best advice she ever received was from her mother who told her that as often as possible she should “put herself in the way of beauty“. By that… Read more »

This week is our 6th anniversary as Kate Dewhirst Health Law. 6 years! When I started this business, I had a 1 year old and a 3 year old. Those were intense times of parenting. I had 17 years’ experience as a lawyer. I had been an employee in a law firm and a hospital. … Read more »

Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner has released its annual Statistical Report for 2021. Below is a summary of the high-level take-aways: Access Requests: There were 137,481 requests for access to personal health information in 2021, a 2.5% decrease from 2020 when 140,950 requests were received. Health institutions completed 137,234 requests for access to personal health… Read more »

Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner (Patricia Kosseim) has released her 2021 annual report. The report reflects on the shift towards an increasingly digital society over the course of the past year and describes the IPC’s role in protecting people’s privacy while supporting innovation in our province. In addition to reporting on the IPC’s adjudication of… Read more »

IPC Decision 178 is a correction request submitted by a wife on behalf of her husband. The husband was a client of a LHIN and had undergone a home case assessment, following which, a determination was made that he was not eligible for increased hours of personal support services. The wife sought changes to the… Read more »

IPC decision 177 is a companion decision to IPC Decision 176. Both decisions centre around the shared records of two hospitals who provided care to a patient prior to his death by suicide. See the take-aways from Decision 166 here. The patient’s father filed a complaint with the IPC after reviewing an audit of his… Read more »

The Information and Privacy Commissioner has released Decision 176, which speaks to the use of electronic medical record (EMR) credentials by individuals other than the authorized user. The decision arose after the father of a patient asked for an audit of his son’s hospital records, following his son’s death by suicide. The records were located… Read more »

Full-Time Office Magician – Come Join our Admin Team! We are excited to recruit an additional administrative member who is eager to showcase their ability to support, collaborate and grow within an entrepreneurial team. This is a full-time position with benefits. Salary will be negotiated depending on experience.   Please submit a PDF resume and cover… Read more »

On March 24, 2022, the Ontario Divisional Court released its decision in Stewart v Demme (2022 ONSC 1790), a class action case against William Osler Health System and one of its ex-nurses (Demme). The case deals with the tort of intrusion upon seclusion, which is a claim that can be advanced by individuals affected by… Read more »