[37] Bill 105 Royal Assent (PDF)
Bill 105 2001
An Act to amend the
Health Protection and
Promotion Act to require
the taking of blood samples
to protect victims of crime,
emergency service workers,
good Samaritans and other persons
Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:
1. The Health Protection and Promotion Act is amended by adding the following section:
Order for blood samples, definition
22.1 (1) In this section,
"physician report" means a report made by a physician who is informed in respect of matters related to occupational and environmental health and all protocols and standards of practice in respect of blood-borne pathogens, which report assesses the risk to the health of the applicant described in subsection (2) as a result of the applicant's having come into contact with a bodily substance of another person in the circumstances described in subclause (2) (a) (i), (ii) or (iii).
Order for blood samples
(2) Upon the application of a person, a medical officer of health may make a written order described in subsection (4) if of the opinion, on reasonable and probable grounds, that,
(a) the applicant has come into contact with a bodily substance of another person,
(i) as a result of being the victim of a crime,
(ii) while providing emergency health care services or emergency first aid to the person, if the person is ill, injured or unconscious as a result of an accident or other emergency, or
(iii) while performing a function prescribed by the regulations in relation to the person;
(b) the applicant may have become infected with a virus that causes a prescribed communicable disease as a result of coming into contact with the bodily substance;
(c) by reason of the lengthy incubation periods for the prescribed communicable diseases and the methods available for ascertaining the presence in the human body of the viruses that cause them, an analysis of the applicant's blood would not accurately determine, in a timely manner, whether the applicant had become infected with a virus that causes a prescribed communicable disease as a result of coming into contact with the bodily substance;
(d) taking a sample of blood from the person mentioned in clause (a) would not endanger that person's life or health;
(e) the applicant has submitted to the medical officer of health a physician report on the applicant made within seven days after the applicant came into contact with the bodily substance; and
(f) having regard to the physician report mentioned in clause (e), the order is necessary to decrease or eliminate the risk to the health of the applicant as a result of the applicant's having come into contact with the bodily substance.
Making the physician report
(3) A physician who makes a physician report on an applicant described in subsection (2) may require the applicant to submit to an examination, base line testing, counselling or treatment for the purpose of making the report.
Contents of order
(4) An order made under subsection (2) shall,
(a) require the person mentioned in clause (2) (a) to allow a legally qualified medical practitioner or another person or class of persons named in the order to take a sample of blood from the person to determine whether the person carries a virus that causes a prescribed communicable disease;
(b) require the legally qualified medical practitioner or another person or class of persons named in the order to whom the person mentioned in clause (2) (a) goes for the taking of a sample of blood to take the sample of blood and to deal with it in the manner specified in the order, including,
(i) to have it delivered to an analyst or a member of a class of analysts specified in the order to have the sample analysed, and
(ii) to provide the applicable analyst with the addresses for service of the following persons, if the medical officer of health has those addresses: the applicant, the physician of the applicant, the person from whom the sample was taken and the person's physician; and
(c) require the analyst who receives the sample of blood to,
(i) analyse it in accordance with the requirements specified in the order,
(ii) make reasonable attempts to deliver a report on the results of the analysis to the physician of the person from whom the sample was taken,
Sec./art. 1 protection et promotion de la santé Projet 105 3
(iii) make reasonable attempts to deliver, to the person from whom the sample was taken, a notice that the analyst delivered the report mentioned in subclause (ii) if the analyst succeeded in delivering the report under that subclause,
(iv) make reasonable attempts to deliver a report on the results of the analysis to the physician of the applicant, and
(v) make reasonable attempts to deliver to the applicant,
(A) a notice that the analyst has made reasonable attempts to deliver a report on the results of the analysis to the physician of the applicant, and
(B) a recommendation in writing that the applicant consult his or her physician for a proper interpretation of the results of the analysis.
Hearing
(5) The medical officer of health may hold a hearing of all persons who may be affected by the making of an order under subsection (2), but is not required to do so.
Non-application of Act
(6) The Statutory Powers Procedure Act does not apply to a hearing mentioned in subsection (5).
Health Care Consent Act, 1996
(7) The Health Care Consent Act, 1996 does not apply to the taking of a sample of blood under clause (4) (a).
Applicant's address for service
(8) A medical officer of health who makes an order under subsection (2) shall provide the applicant's address for service to the analyst who receives a sample of blood for analysis under clause (4) (c).
Appeal if no order
(9) If the medical officer of health refuses to grant the application for an order mentioned in subsection (2), the applicant may appeal the refusal to the Chief Medical Officer of Health within the time prescribed by the regulations and in accordance with the manner prescribed by the regulations.
Court order for compliance
(10) If a person does not comply with an order made by a medical officer of health under subsection (2) within the time specified in the order, the officer or the Minister may apply to a judge of the Superior Court of Justice for an order requiring the person to,
(a) comply with the order of the officer within the time specified in the order of the court; and
(b) take whatever other action the court considers appropriate in the circumstances to protect the interests of the applicant mentioned in that subsection.
Obligations of person taking sample
(11) A person who takes a sample of blood under clause (4) (b) shall not use it in any way except as required in the order mentioned in that clause.
Obligations of analyst
(12) An analyst who receives a sample of blood for analysis under clause (4) (c),
(a) shall ensure that the sample is not used for any purpose other than the analysis and the reporting of results described in that clause;
(b) shall not release the sample to any person other than for the purpose of that clause or the retention of the sample by a person acting on behalf of the analyst as long as no person other than the analyst has access to the sample;
(c) shall not disclose the results to any person other than in accordance with that clause.
Results of analysis
(13) The results of the analysis are not admissible in evidence in a criminal proceeding.
2. Clause 96 (1) (a) of the Act is amended by adding at the end "except prescribing communicable diseases for the purposes of subsections 22.1 (2) and (4)".
3. Section 97 of the Act is repealed and the following substituted:
Minister's regulations
97. The Minister may make regulations,
(a) specifying diseases as communicable diseases, reportable diseases and virulent diseases for the purposes of this Act;
(b) prescribing communicable diseases for the purposes of subsections 22.1 (2) and (4);
(c) governing an application for an order made under subsection 22.1 (2);
(d) prescribing the information that a physician report as defined in section 22.1 must or may contain;
(e) prescribing a form for a physician report as defined in section 22.1 and requiring that the report be in the prescribed form;
(f) specifying restrictions or conditions on the use or disclosure that any person may make of the sample of blood described in clause 22.1 (4) (b) and on the use or disclosure of any information derived from the sample of blood.
Commencement
4. This Act comes into force on a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor.
Short title
5. The short title of this Act is the Health Protection and Promotion Amendment Act, 2001.
