Patient’s Right to Access Medical Records

In 1992 Supreme Court of Canada ¹ considered a request made by the plaintiff patient to the defendant physician for the complete contents of her medical file. The doctor agreed to produce copies of all her notes and reports, but declined to produce the reports from other treating physicians on the basis that such reports were the property of those physicians.

The Court agreed that the patient records were the property of the physician, but due to the fiduciary relationship between the patient and the physician, the “trust-like ‘beneficial interest’ of the patient” that, as a general rule, the patient should have a right to the medical information.

A second reason, the Court determined, was to allow the patient a means to ensure the proper functioning of the doctor-patient relationship and to allow for the protection of the well-being of the patient. Hence, if there has been wrongdoing by the physician, it would be revealed.

Access was limited to the information obtained in the course of treatment and did not extend to information arising outside of the doctor-patient relationship.

This rule, the Court concluded, was not absolute. Circumstances may arise in which the physician may rightly decline access to the complete file, in which there may be a potential for harm to either the patient or a third party. Even in such situations, the court should demand “compelling grounds” to deny access, the onus to prove such being upon the physician.