Melissa Perry (CA)

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Ontario legislature clarifies mandatory privacy breach reporting requirements under the Ontario Personal Health Information Protection Act

By Melissa Perry (CA) on July 21, 2017 Posted in International

In Ontario, the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA)[1] governs the collection, use and disclosure of personal health information within the health sector. The term “personal health information” is broadly defined in PHIPA and includes identifying information which is not strictly personal health information but is contained in a record containing personal health information. Health … Continue reading

Medical assistance in dying in Canada: one year later

By Melissa Perry (CA) on April 27, 2017 Posted in International

Since the Canadian federal government introduced legislation governing medical assistance in dying (“MAiD”), the provinces and territories, which are responsible for the delivery of health care services in Canada, have adopted a variety of processes and procedures to deal with requests for MAiD. However, some questions and issues which have arisen with the legalization of … Continue reading

Update on physician-assisted dying: A changing medical legal landscape

By Melissa Perry (CA) on March 7, 2016 Posted in General

On February 29, 2016, an Alberta woman suffering from amynotrophic lateral sclerolsis (“ALS”), became the first person in Canada to obtain a physician-assisted death. Four days prior to her death, Ms. S applied to the Alberta Court of the Queen’s Bench and successfully obtained an exemption from the Criminal Code prohibition on physician-assisted dying in … Continue reading

A loophole in the law of contracts? The application of the duty to act honestly

By Melissa Perry (CA) on March 2, 2016 Posted in General

In its recent decision in Burquitlam Care Society v Fraser Health Authority, 2015 BCSC 1343, the British Columbia Supreme Court may have expanded the potential use of the common law duty to act honestly as a means for contracting parties to seek legal recourse against public bodies outside the scope of their contractual rights. (See … Continue reading

Physician-assisted dying part 3: Finding a balance between autonomy and access

By Melissa Perry (CA) on February 19, 2016 Posted in General

“Health institutions, including regional health authorities and other institutional providers (e.g. hospitals, hospices and long-term care facilities) are critical enablers of effective and equitable access to physician-assisted dying.” Provincial-Territorial Expert Advisory Group on Physician-Assisted Dying, Final Report, November 30, 2015, at 3. Part 2 of this series examined the implications of the decriminalization of physician-assisted … Continue reading

Physician-assisted dying part 2: Implications for frontline healthcare professionals

By Melissa Perry (CA) on February 5, 2016 Posted in General

“This issue is not one of life or death. The issue is what kind of death, an agonized or peaceful one. Shall we meet death in personal integrity or in personal disintegration? Should there be a moral or demoralized end to mortal life?” Fletcher, J. (1954). Morals and Medicine. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press at … Continue reading