Medical Professionals and Patient Files
Who owns a patient’s medical records? Is it the medical professional or the patient? In this article we will examine some arguments for each side and then consult case law to determine how the issue is (presently) addressed in Canada. Determining who owns the patient file has profound implications on who can treat the patient and whether the patient file can be treated as a business asset during the sale of a practice or clinic.
Medical Professionals
Medical professionals could be a family doctors, dentists or any other health care provider that would be expected to keep patient files. Medical professionals are responsible for recording your treatments, diagnosis, and prescriptions. They create the physical (or electronic) file and record your treatment information into it. Their claim to ownership of a patient’s file rests on the creation of such documents.
Although medical professionals have an ownership claim to the patient’s file, they cannot use the patient’s file any way they would like. The information in the file is subject to confidentiality meaning the information cannot be shared without the consent of the patient.
Patients
A patient’s claim to their file hinges on the information within the file. The information that patients provide to medical professionals belongs to the patients, even when that information is transformed into a diagnosis or treatment plan. The information within the file forms the basis for the Patient’s claim of ownership.
The confidential nature of the information within the file contributes to the Patient’s ownership claim. The information the client provides is considered confidential. The patient must give consent before someone is allowed to look at their file. This restriction applies even if the Patient does not own the file containing the information because the law generally considers medical and legal information worthy of protection.Court Decisions
In McInerney v. Macdonald, [1992] 2 S.C.R. 138 the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) decided that the doctor is the owner of the “physical” files or records, while the patient’s information belongs to the patient. The court also claimed that patients have a continuing interest in their information and control over it. This continuing interest manifests as “a trust like beneficial interest” held by the patient. The result was that no one person has sole control over the file. The medical professional may own the file, but the patient controls the access to its contents and where the information the information is stored.
Conclusion
For patients, this means that they are free to have their file transferred to another medical professional of their choosing. For medical professionals this means that they can consider the file as a business asset so long as they have consent to view it and treat the patient. Selling a medical corporation along with the patient files can be done, but a patient must consent to treatment from the new owner. Ultimately, the patient must be respected, and this goal overpowers any business concerns a medical professional might have. The information in this article has been provided for educational purposes only, while the accuracy of the information has been evaluated it has been greatly simplified for the sake of brevity. If you need legal advice, please contact a lawyer.
Written by: Lucas Rotino
* Please note that the information in this article is not intended as legal advice, but rather as a general overview on the subject. If you are seeking legal advice, please consult with a lawyer.
