• Confidentiality and Immunity •
Existing Provisions
Modernizing the Practice of Veterinary Medicine
ADMINISTRATIVE AMENDMENTS
• Confidentiality and Immunity •
The confidentiality provisions in the Veterinarians Act provides that individuals engaged in the administration of the Act must preserve confidentiality with respect to all matters related to his or her duties , employment , examination , review or investigation , except for defined exemptions . These exemptions include circumstances in which the person to whom the information relates has provided consent or where permitted by law .
Further , it provides that no person to whom the above section applies shall be required to give testimony or to produce any document or thing in any action or proceeding about information obtained during his or her duties , employment , examination , review or investigation except in a College-related proceeding .
There is also a robust provision for immunity where a decision is made in good faith by the College , the Council , a committee of the College or a member of the Council or a committee of the College , or an officer , employee , agent or appointee of the College .
The provisions also include a section related to the indemnification of members of the Council or a committee of the College and every officer and employee of the College out of the funds of the College against all costs , charges and expenses incurred in relation to an action or proceeding related to the execution of his or her duties unless brought about by willful neglect or default .
What Change is Proposed ?
It is proposed that the confidentiality provision of the Veterinarians Act be updated to include more exceptions to the duty of confidentiality , including disclosure of confidential information to a police officer , to advise whether the College is investigating a member , if there is a compelling public interest in the disclosure of that information , and if there are reasonable grounds to believe that the disclosure is necessary for the purpose of eliminating or reducing a risk of harm to a person or animal or group of persons or animals . An amendment is also proposed to the confidentiality provision that would prevent evidence generated under a College proceeding to be able to be used in a civil proceeding .
It is also proposed that the wording of the immunity provision should be broadened to include committee panels .
Further , it is recommended that the indemnity provisions in the Act should be moved to by-law
Why is the College Considering Changes to this Concept ?
Modernizing and updating the confidentiality provisions to be more explicit and clear about whom the provisions relate to would be in line with the direction in which regulated professions are generally moving . More importantly , it would allow for greater transparency where appropriate and in the public interest .
The proposed amendment preventing evidence generated under a College proceeding to be able to be compelled in a civil proceeding would help to avoid duplicative and costly civil proceedings outside the regulatory framework , and would also help to avoid parties using College proceedings to gather evidence for civil proceedings .
Lastly , indemnity is generally addressed in the by-laws of many other similar legislation related to professional regulation , and this allows for greater flexibility and agility since by-laws are easier to change than statutes . This flexibility would be important when accounting for terms of third-party insurance plans that may change and affect the indemnification coverage set out in a statute
36 Achieving a Modern Approach to the Regulation of Veterinary Medicine in Ontario