A practitioner's response to the Final Report of the Select Special Health Information Act Review Committee.

• Author: Rose, Mat

The Final Report of the Select Special Health Information Act Review Committee (SSHIARC), released in October, 2004 should make any reasonable physician recoil in horror.

The Committee recommended that:

"31. The Act should be amended to mandate disclosure, without consent, to police services of:

* Patient name

* Address/location in facility

* Date of admission

* Name of physician

* Nature of injury

When:

* For purposes of obtaining a warrant or subpoena, and when the police have reasonable grounds to suspect that the person seeking health services has been involved in some form of criminal activity; and make a request for that information, or

* A custodian has reasonable grounds to suspect that the person seeking health services has been involved in some form of criminal activity

32. The Act should be amended to mandate disclosure of limited health information without consent to police services where a custodian has reasonable grounds to suspect a prescription reveals or tends to reveal that an offence has been committed or is being attempted, including the individual's name, address, date of birth, personal health number, the drug, dosage, prescriber's name and address, a copy of the prescription, and any other health information contained on the prescription.

33. The Government of Alberta should consider introducing separate stand-alone legislation requiring mandatory reporting by custodians to police services of gunshot wounds, stabbing and severe beatings.

34. The Act should be amended to allow the disclosure of health information, without consent, by Alberta Health and Wellness or other custodians to police services where there is reason to believe that an individual has committed fraud in obtaining Alberta Health Care Insurance coverage, health services or health benefits from the publicly funded health system." (1)

    I am a general practitioner practicing at Edmonton's inner city clinic. A high proportion of my patients include addicts, prostitutes, and people accused or convicted, or both, of any number of criminal offences. I frequently treat individuals who have been beaten, stabbed, raped and otherwise assaulted. Other patients routinely engage in criminal activity, such as drug dealing, to finance their addictions. While I do not in any way approve of these activities, I understand the exigencies of their daily lives. I therefore have a real and immediate interest in the recommendations of the Committee, for those recommendations would...