New Federal and Provincial Personal Information Protection Legislation and its Impact on Physicians and Public Hospitals

The focus of this article is to examine the implications of the new federal and Ontario personal data protection legislation for physicians and public hospitals. This article also inquires into whether the new legislation will contribute to the protection of patient privacy. By ‘‘physician’’ I mean a doctor in a broad sense – i.e., ‘‘a person who has been educated, trained, and licensed to practice the art and science of medicine’’. This will include family doctors, paediatricians, psychiatrists, surgeons, and other medical doctors covered by the Regulated Health Professions Act. By the term ‘‘public hospitals’’ I will refer to not-for-profit hospitals as they are defined by the Public Hospitals Act. The first part of the article will examine the interre- lationship between the personal data protection legisla- tion and existing standards for physicians. The second part will analyze PIPEDA and its implications for doctors and public hospitals. Lastly, I will analyze the new Ontario legislation designed to protect personal information in the context of health care and treatment