Articles 2023

Virtual care has allowed Canadians more convenient and faster access to health care providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. For health care providers who wish to practice virtual care across provinces and territories licensing challenges remain. This article summarizes licensing requirements for physicians practising virtual care across provincial or territorial borders, as well as tips and best practices for regulated health professionals.

As the pandemic persists, a health practitioner’s office must maintain measures that protect its community’s safety in the most contactless way possible. Biometric kiosks are one way to achieve this objective. However, the use of biometric kiosks carries a host of privacy concerns regarding body temperature as personal health information and the expectation of privacy.

HPARB has changed its former practice of anonymizing its published decisions and is now publishing the names of parties when releasing its decisions on canlii.org. Lad Kucis, a partner of Gardiner Roberts who practices health law and professional regulation, discusses this recent change and the potential impacts on healthcare professionals and patients.

On March 17, 2021, the federal government passed Bill C-7: An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying), which legally expands access to MAID in Canada. This article offers a high-level overview of how we got here and what has changed since Bill C-7 has become the law of the land.

Effective advocacy in health law requires the ability to argue before a variety of adjudicators. Read this summary of the OBA Health Law Section's recent PD program on Advocating before Health Discipline Committees and gain valuable insights from the decision-makers themselves about how counsel can advocate effectively for their clients at health discipline committee hearings.

We are excited to share with you the insights of five prominent members of the bar with extensive experience in medical malpractice litigation, both from the perspective of plaintiffs and defence counsel. Whether you are currently working on medical malpractice files, considering a career in this interesting and complex area of litigation, or are just curious about what senior members of the bar who practice in this field have to say about their work, read on.

This article comments on the recent decision of the discipline committee of the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) in College of Nurses of Ontario v Ramos, 2020 CanLII 82614 (ON CNO), denying a deferral of a virtual hearing until a time where in-person hearings are resumed.

Health-care workers in long-term care (LTC) and retirement homes may be required by their employers to undergo COVID-19 testing. This was the decision of arbitrator Dana Randall in Christian Labour Association of Canada v Caressant Care Nursing & Retirement Homes, 2020 CanLII 100531 (ON LA). This article summarizes key points of the arbitral decision.

This article is a recap of the November 17 PD event of the OBA Health Law Section: Health Law & Privacy of Patients – What you Need to know in these Unprecedented Times. The program addressed how the arrival of COVID-19 in Ontario has affected access to health information, patient privacy in the new virtual age, and the application of PHIPA to consumer electronic service providers.

Earlier this month, Ontario’s Patient Ombudsman released a special report, Honouring the voices and experiences of Long-Term Care Home residents, caregivers and staff during the first wave of COVID-19 in Ontario (the "Report"), calling for major changes to prevent further tragedies in the Province's Long-Term Care sector during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.