Articles 2021

In this edition of the OBA Health Law’s Section Insider, we spoke with those who participated in nominating Kate Dewhirst, the 2023 recipient of the Susan Davidson Memorial Award for Excellence in Health Law. Kate is the founder of the law firm, Kate Dewhirst Health Law. Kate advises health care organizations on risk management, privacy, system integration, and credentialing issues.

It is widely understood that professional services and health care are among the most common industries targeted by cyber attacks, which puts law firms practicing health law squarely in the crosshairs of cyber criminals. This “cheat sheet” document is intended to provide some practical suggestions for health law practitioners to consider when contemplating the increasingly thorny area of electronic data management and cyber security.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario has proposed changes to its registration policies to encourage more US-trained physicians to practice in Ontario. This article briefly highlights the different pathways through which physicians may become registered to practice in Ontario. The proposed policies are not yet in force and, for now, the old pathways still apply.

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 (the "AODA") was enacted with the goal of creating an accessible Ontario by 2025. In 2017, the Health Care Standards Development Committee was asked to develop recommendations for a new accessibility health care standard. The Committee recently published their final recommendations, with broad implications on the health care sector.

The Ontario Divisional Court's decision in Stewart v Demme, 2022 ONSC 1790, a class action case against William Osler Health System and one of its ex-nurses (Demme), discusses the tort of intrusion upon seclusion in the context of a privacy breach. The intrusion under review here, namely, accessing health information in order to misappropriate opioids and support Ms. Demme's addiction, was not so offensive or significant as to cry out for a remedy.