PHIPA Decision 17

Today we published PHIPA Decision 17, an important decision dealing with the application of both the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) to a hospital.

The matter began as a request by a father whose child died shortly after birth for all the hospital’s records related to the tragic event. Among the many issues canvassed in the decision are:

• whether the father was entitled to make a request for access to the personal health information of his wife and child;
• what kind of records were covered by such an access request;
• whether the father had the right to records, or parts of records, that the hospital did not wish to release; and
• what fees the hospital could charge for granting access.