[Professional Practice and Liability on the Net, Vol. 3 - No. 10, July 2002]

Most practitioners are aware that the provincial government has introduced new draft privacy legislation, the Privacy of Personal Information Act (“PPIA”), under the authority of the Provincial Ministry of Consumer and Business Services.  The legislation is still in the draft stage, although it appears that the government will want to have legislation in place within the next few months in light of deadlines imposed by federal legislation. 

The legislation is intended to establish rules to govern how the private sector, not-for-profit and health care organizations deal with personal information.  As many practitioners know, the draft legislation raises a number of concerns for practitioners in both the health and commercial sectors. 

On the health side, a number of regulators have raised concerns about many of the provisions in the draft law.  For example, all practitioners will, as a practical matter, need to familiarize themselves with what is actually quite complex legislation.  In addition to the myriad of rules in the draft, it is also simply difficult to read and understand (not unlike most legislation).

In general terms, the rules about the collection, use and disclosure of personal information will be significantly tightened.  Practitioners will need to develop detailed policies on how they collect, use and disclose information, and have them available for their patients and clients.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons has quite properly pointed out that other provisions in the draft law concerning the right to correct information in patient’s files are quite problematic.  Patients or clients will generally have the right to be able to ask that corrections be made in information contained in their files if they believe it is inaccurate.  While it may be difficult enough if there is a disagreement about “facts”, the problem becomes considerably greater if a patient or client claims that a diagnosis or other professional judgment is incorrect.  The fact that the government’s Information and Privacy Commissioner will be asked to make decisions in the case of a dispute does not of course resolve the dilemma.

The consultation period is now formally ended, and a further revised version of the legislation can likely be expected sometime this summer or fall.