Calgary Gangs and the Justice System

By Kelsey Andersen

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Health care professionals face yet another new challenge. Bill 46, the Gunshot and Stab Wound Mandatory Disclosure Act, which proposes that health professionals must report patients with gun shots or stab wounds. This new bill went back for proposal on October 26, 2009.The bill is being put into legislation to make it easier for health officials and law enforcement to communicate faster and easier.

There are many arguments to this bill, for and against. There is the argument that it makes communication safer and easier but critics claim that it could be invading on civil liberties.
Liberal opposition Leader, David Swann, does not have much faith in the proposition of Bill 46. He explains that the bill does not have an appropriate balance between patient privacy and police investigation...

"It's a very delicate balance between confidentiality and trust between a doctor and a patient, which could be very seriously jeopardized if physicians are required to report cases, which may or may not have any criminal association with them...I think we need to have a very serious discussion...This this kind of a bill is going to suppress people coming to health-care attention."

The proposed bill would require health workers to provide law enforcement with the patients name, if treatment was given, location of treatment, or if the patient is not hospitalized, the location that the patient was seen by paramedics.

“Health-care professionals can report. There’s nothing that’s stopping them... (but) different hospitals have different ways to deal with it,”, said Solicitor-General and Public Security Ministry spokeswoman Sharon Lopatka. “What this does is make it mandatory and very clear when they need to disclose, and it provides police with important information on public safety by preventing further violence of injury,” claimed Lopatka.
Bill 46 excludes the reporting of self-inflicted or accidental injuries.

I believe that the article was very fact-based. It did not show any room for opinion what so ever. It was written by Tarina White. The article sums up how the Bill will affect Canadians and raises awareness about what privacy issues may be intruded.

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White, T. (October 25, 2009) Wound disclosure bill comes back. Calgary Sun. Retrieved from the internet on October 26, 2009 from http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/alberta/2009/10/25/11519061-sun.html