The Information and Privacy Commissioner, Michael Harvey, has released his Report AH-2020-001 under authority of the Personal Health Information Act (PHIA). A summary of the Report is included below.
To view the Report in its entirety, please go to http://www.oipc.nl.ca/reports/commissioner.
| Report: | AH-2020-001 |
| Report Date: | June 30, 2020 |
| Public Body: | Workplace, NL |
| Summary: | The Complainant filed a request under the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 2015 (ATIPPA, 2015) for correction of personal information in a file held by WorkplaceNL relating to his application for compensation. The record in question is the report of a medical practitioner containing his opinions and observations of the Complainant’s injury and its impact on his ability to return to work. The record informed WorkplaceNL’s decision to deny the Complainant’s claim for compensation. Upon receiving the Complainant’s request for correction, WorkplaceNL determined that the record in question contained personal health information and was therefore subject to the Personal Health Information Act (PHIA) and processed the request pursuant to the provisions of that Act. WorkplaceNL refused to make the requested correction under section 62 of PHIA on the basis that it did not create the record and that the record was a professional opinion or observation within the meaning of section 62. The Complainant disputed the applicability of PHIA and applied to the Commissioner for a review of WorkplaceNL’s decision, also alleging WorkplaceNL had not discharged its duty to assist under section 13 of ATIPPA, 2015. The Commissioner determined, based on a plain reading of the provisions relating to “personal health information” in both Acts that WorkplaceNL had properly interpreted the request as being made under PHIA. The application of section 62 was previously discussed by the NL OIPC in Report AH-2014-001. Applying the analysis articulated in the earlier report, the Commissioner determined that WorkplaceNL properly refused to correct the information as it related to a professional opinion or observation. The Commissioner also found that ATIPPA, 2015 was not applicable and therefore WorkplaceNL could not have been in breach of section 13 of that Act. |
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Media contact
Sean Murray
Director of Research & Quality Assurance
709-729-6309
2020 07 14
4:10 pm