Category: Privacy

This comes as a surprise to most lay people. In Ontario, and in many jurisdictions around the world, children make their own health privacy decisions when they are “capable” of doing so and not when they reach a specific age. What does that mean? Capacity is presumed. Meaning, healthcare providers presume everyone is capable to… Read more »

In the last month I have been asked three times a variation on the theme of this question: “Do we have to tell a patient the full names of our staff if the patient asks?” The answer is generally, yes. Today, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC) published an order on this exact… Read more »

In a new health privacy decision of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, we find out what needs to be proven to show a patient is making a request for access to health records in “bad faith”. Decision 87:  Interprets “Bad Faith” Requests A patient saw a chiropodist at a foot clinic. The patient wanted a copy… Read more »

In Decision 89 of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario deals with an access request, what lengths a health care organization has to go to look for records and what is a “complete health record”. In this case, the complainant asked a community care access centre (CCAC) for access to his deceased wife’s complete… Read more »

The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario just released new guidelines “Avoiding Abandoned Health Records: Guidance for Health Information Custodians Changing Practice“. The guidelines cover: Who is the custodian when there is a change of practice? What obligations do custodians have when changing practice? Avoiding abandoned records What to do if you discover abandoned records… Read more »

The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario has issued a new health privacy Decision 86. A woman contacted a hospital to have access to her deceased son’s health records.   The hospital provided part of the record but notified the requester that part of the paper record was missing. The requester made a complaint to the… Read more »

The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario just issued Decision 85 – which is a new correction case. A hospital received a correction request from the daughter of a deceased patient relating to 4 pages including: physician orders, progress notes, medication administration record and Critical Care Response Team Consultation Record. The complainant believed her mother’s… Read more »

The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario just issued decision 84, which is a new access decision. Bottom Line: This decision is consistent with other decisions of the IPC and does not require a change to practice. In this case, a patient of a hospital was concerned that hospital staff were inappropriately viewing her record…. Read more »

Stay with me folks – it’s going to get bumpy. There are some important nuances to understand my headline and this case. Here’s the new health privacy decision of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario #83. This case echoes questions I am asked every week in my practice. It is important reading for any… Read more »

We know this intuitively – but it bears repeating. Health care organizations should be very careful when speaking with the media about specific patient cases. There is a new Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC) health privacy decision directly on this topic. Decision 82 Background: A patient of a hospital died. The family members… Read more »