The Death of Medical Confidentiallity.

 Bill 41 and the end of  Medical confidentiality. 

  The ultimate death spasms of medical confidentiality which has taken place in Ontario, will come as a surprise to many citizens when eventually it affects them.  Most folks have never even heard of Bill 41  which was recently passed and which  is going to drain the health care system and the tax payers pockets.  It will result in the creation of a whole new layer of administridiots with their cohorts of assistants, secretaries and clerks with generous salaries, benefits and pensions but as far as I can make out will add no new resources to actual  health care.  no new doctors or nurses, no reduction of waiting times for procedures and no extended health care.  It has been given the euphemistic name of the "Patient's First Act", although that is exactly what it is not.  Truly, it is the "Bureaucrats First Act" although it is the patients who will be paying for it.  The Act is there for everyone to read, though unless you happen to have a law degree, which  I don't, it is difficult to fully comprehend.  But I do get enough to tell you some of the effects it will have on  you and me.
   1.  Medical confidentiality, which has been dying for years is now soundly dead.  This act gives the government access to your medical records.  Now, the confidentiality of medical records has been  under attack for years.  Those who can gain access to your medical record may gain access to information that you desperately want to keep private.  I can recall being forced to give information in court that I didn't want to divulge as it was not in  the best interests of my patient.  I was informed that if I refused to I  would  be found guilty  of 'contempt of Court' and could go to jail.  I was also  informed by the court that I didn't have to worry about being sued by the patient because I  would be protected by the 'Canada Evidence Act', which I had never heard of until then.  So even  then they had you where they wanted you.
   With the introduction of  Medicare patients willingly surrendered a major component of their privacy, because all billing submitted  to the government had to have a diagnosis attached.   Some physicians, who really respected the patient's desire for privacy would sometimes disguise an unpalatable diagnosis to prevent the patient from embarrassment, but the administration soon caught on to that  and cautioned physicians regarding the consequences of so doing.  Occasionally patients requested to pay in  cash, to prevent a  billing slip with  the diagnosis going to  the billing agency.
   Bill 41 allows the government or their agents to access your medical record on very slim guidelines that offer you little protection.  Government knows that information is power and wants to know all about you.
    This is what George Orwell had to  say:"There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live—did live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized."  Now the folks do much of the work for them on facebook and  twitter!
   2. Bill 41 gives the Ministry of Health total dictatorial power over the the main Health Care providers without requiring other than token input so as to appear as though they are involving the key players like physicians and nurses in their decision making.   Most of those administrators, with no medical knowledge whatsoever, some with a minimal amount, are making medical decisions that will eventually affect every person  in the province.  To be successful in  their endeavours they have to minimize physicians and nurses and to reduce them to obedient  technician status.  And make no mistake, they are well on  the way to doing that.
   3.  Medical resources, scarce enough already are going to become even more strained to support the new bureaucratic layer.  There will be no benefits to patients in  terms of improved health care.

  Remember Ronald Reagan's caution:  The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help!"