The complainant made a request to the Ottawa Fertility Clinic (the clinic) under PHIPA for the clinic’s complete paperwork regarding vials of donor sperm she had provided to the clinic for the purpose of fertility treatment. After examining the records released by the clinic, the complainant made a complaint to the IPC on the basis the clinic had not provided her with the records she seeks. Through the IPC review process, the issues were narrowed to the reasonableness of the clinic’s search for responsive records in its custody or control.
In this interim decision, the adjudicator finds that the complainant has established a reasonable basis to believe there exist responsive records in the clinic’s custody or control that it has not identified or located. In particular, the complainant referred to federal health legislation that requires the clinic to create and maintain documentation around donor sperm handling, which the clinic failed to adequately address during the review. The adjudicator orders the clinic to conduct another search for responsive records, and to provide her with a written explanation regarding the results of its search. She remains seized of the complaint to address issues that may arise from the clinic’s further search.