When asked what I do, I say “I’m a health lawyer”.  Which always gets a head tilt response: What’s that? Q: Does that mean you sue doctors? A: Nope Q: Oh, so you sue hospitals? A: Nope Then they say – Ok. I don’t get it. I explain … I work for hospitals and doctors’ offices and… Read more »

Mandatory reporting by health information custodians in Ontario to the IPC will now come into effect October 1, 2017 The new regulations requiring the mandatory reporting of privacy breaches to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario will come into effect October 1st (not July 1st as we originally expected). The link to the new… Read more »

The pressure to “innovate” is everywhere. Even though the practice of law is not exactly renowned for being cutting edge, as lawyers we aspire to create new ways of practice that improve the outcomes for our clients, increase our revenues, free us up for fun, add sex-appeal to our party introduction “I’m a lawyer”, and generally… Read more »

I recently surveyed administrative and clinical team members at a family health team and discovered the top 5 issues that lead patients or families to complain where the conversation can get heated: Being told they cannot receive test results over the phone for a family member without the patient’s consent Long wait times Not being able to receive… Read more »

Family health teams are interesting creations.  What are they?  Multi-disciplinary teams providing primary care services to communities across Ontario. A new theme for family health teams is moving from physician-led boards to community or mixed governance and skills-based boards. One of the driving reasons for this change is to deal with potential conflicts of interest… Read more »

Are you a Privacy Officer for a health care organization and do you struggle to find interesting videos to keep privacy top of mind for your team? Here are fiveTedTalks that you and your team might find interesting: Why privacy matters – have you heard the phrase “If you aren’t doing anything wrong – you should… Read more »

If you are a Chief of Staff or a Chief of Department of a hospital, chances are you will at some point have to manage a fitness to practice situation involving one of your physician colleagues.  These cases need to be managed with compassion and care. The Public Hospitals Act and the hospital’s by-laws set… Read more »

On May 3rd, the Information and Privacy Commissioner and his team was in Thunder Bay. He released a new presentation He receives between 300-350 health privacy complaints annually He talked about the new social worker prosecution He reminded the audience about the new Code of Procedures for health privacy cases with his office He also mentioned… Read more »

Do you struggle as a lawyer for creative thinking time?  If you don’t schedule it in – it simply doesn’t happen.  Juggling client files and professional development may leave little time for innovation. I was interviewed by The Lawyers Weekly on  the art of brainstorming. Let me know what you think! Click here: Kate Dewhirst

From time to time I hear from lawyers that they feel “stuck”.  Stuck in a position that they don’t enjoy – but with a salary they feel they can’t match elsewhere. Here is an article to inspire you about how to take your legal training and expand your services into new territory. I was interviewed… Read more »