Lawyer suggests policy between hospitals and police
Tuesday September 11, 2007 -- Jason Thompson
TORONTO— Kathy O’Brien, a partner with the law firm Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt, recommends that hospitals consider the use of a patient health information policy similar to the one developed between St. Michael’s Hospital, the University Health Network (UHN) and Toronto Police Services.

The policy allows police officers conducting an investigation to fill out a form saying they require the personal health information of a patient at the hospital and that a warrant or court order to obtain that information isn’t available within the time constraints of their investigation.

O’Brien spoke about the policy Sept. 10 at the Ontario Healthcare Risk Management Network’s 2nd Annual Risk Management Conference in Toronto. She describes the working relationship between police departments and hospitals as a “very hot topic right now” and views the policy as a way of minimizing the confrontation between police and front-line staff.

O’Brien says the policy presents a reasonable compromise between the hospital’s interest in protecting patient privacy and law enforcement’s need to access information vital to an ongoing investigation.

“It sets out very clearly what the process is going to be, what the obligations for each party are going to be and who is going to be the decision maker,” O’Brien says. “It’s a very clear process that everybody has agreed to and I think that was the key thing.”

Under the policy, information available to police is limited to name, next of kin, location, condition, broken bones, whether or not they were admitted overnight and the anticipated time of discharge. Further information, such as blood or specimen samples, must be obtained via warrant or court order.

Without a similar policy in place, the relationship between hospitals and police departments is currently governed by the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA).

PHIPA gives hospitals the discretion to turn over health information to the police as part of an investigation without a warrant, but it doesn’t provide guidance as to when it is and isn’t appropriate.

O’Brien says it’s important for front-line staff, especially those who are new to the job, to understand what their roles and responsibilities are when police ask for information regarding a patient.

“When you’re dealing with police, even though they can be intimidating and demanding, if they want personal information, they need to have a warrant or they need to have a court order,” she says, adding the responsibility to make that decision should not be left to front-line workers.

“If the hospital is going to exercise the discretion that the privacy legislation gives them to hand over personal health information to the police as part of an investigation without a warrant and without patient consent, that has to be done at a much higher level in the organization,” O’Brien says.