First of all – it’s time to celebrate. There have been now more than 100 decisions of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario on health privacy.  That’s a celebratory day in my office.  (Note: the IPC did not publish Decision 100 today – so I’ve got to celebrate Decision 101 instead!) Okay – back… Read more »

Stay with me.  This might be a bit bumpy.  Let’s have a deep conversation about consent. And by consent, I mean consent in a health care context. Consent for treatment or for privacy decisions. I recently watched an interview with Elizabeth Gilbert and Marie Forleo. In talking about her book, City of Girls, Elizabeth said… Read more »

In late September, I attended the Gathering of the Creatives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  I went to meet my hero, Julia Cameron, who is the author of The Artists’ Way. As a coach of lawyers, I ask my participants to surrender to the growth experience if they want to live creative lives. I thought… Read more »

Since I was in undergraduate studies, I have loved Georgia O’Keeffe. I love her bold colours and exaggerated shapes and scale. A few weeks ago, I was in Santa Fe, New Mexico for a conference. I went to the Georgia O’Keeffe museum and saw her works up close and personal. They took my breath away…. Read more »

The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC) just released a new blog titled: “Cameras in Doctors’ Exam Rooms? Not in Ontario” and released Decision 98. In this decision, a media outlet notified the IPC that a cosmetic surgery clinic was using surveillance cameras in examination rooms. The clinic had 24 security cameras recording continuously… Read more »

In a new Decision 96 of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC), a father who had access-only (not custody) of his children wanted a certain information from a health care provider. The health care provider refused to confirm or deny they had information about the children. The father complained to the IPC. The… Read more »

Law is generally a no nonsense business. We write legal opinions, emails, and draft court documents with the odd flourish of a bulleted list. We stick to the standard fonts: Times New Roman, Arial. We may splurge with Calibri. No Bauhaus for us. Forget Narkisim. The topic of “beauty” does not often arise in polite… Read more »

In January, the child welfare sector, including children’s aid societies, will become subject to new privacy rules. Part X of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act will come into force and will create a harmonized privacy environment for the sector for the first time. I was recently interviewed by Advocate Daily on this topic…. Read more »

Listening to the acoustic version of A-Ha’s “Take on me” I heard the line: “Say after me … it’s no better to be safe than sorry”. I’m a lawyer. I have probably said “it’s better to be safe than sorry” or “on the safe side” a million times. But when I heard that line in… Read more »

My biggest competitive advantage as a lawyer is … visiting my clients in person. I know. I know. This is going to be controversial. Some lawyers are going to rail against this idea because they never see their clients in person and that works beautifully for them. They have a digital practice and it is… Read more »