Communication
Patient Access
This is also a legal obligation and was outlined in the case previously cited regarding confidentiality:
McInerney v. MacDonald, [1992] 2 S.C.R. 138
A patient requested that her doctor give her copies of the contents of her complete medical file. The doctor gave her copies of all notes and reports she had prepared herself but refused to produce copies of consultants' reports and records she had received from other physicians who had previously treated the patient, stating that they were the property of those physicians and that it would be unethical for her to release them. She suggested to her patient that she contact the other physicians for release of their records. The patient's application in the Court of Queen's Bench for an order directing her doctor to provide a copy of her entire medical file was granted.
In the absence of legislation:
- A patient is entitled, upon request, to examine and copy all information in his or her own medical records which the physician considered in administering advice or treatment, including records prepared by other doctors that the physician may have received.
- Access does not extend to information arising outside the doctor‑patient relationship.
- The patient is not entitled to the records themselves. The physical medical records of the patient belong to the physician.
