[38] Bill 110 Royal Assent (PDF)
Bill 110 2005
An Act to require the
disclosure of information
to police respecting persons
being treated for gunshot wounds
Preamble
The people of Ontario recognize that gunfire poses serious risks to public safety and that mandatory reporting of gunshot wounds will enable police to take immediate steps to prevent further violence, injury or death.
Therefore, Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:
Definition
1. In this Act,
"facility" means,
(a) a hospital as defined in the Public Hospitals Act,
(b) an organization or institution that provides health care services and belongs to a prescribed class,
(c) if a regulation is made under clause 5 (b), a clinic that provides health care services, or
(d) if a regulation is made under clause 5 (c), a medical doctor's office.
Mandatory disclosure of gunshot wounds
2. (1) Every facility that treats a person for a gunshot wound shall disclose to the local municipal or regional police force or the local Ontario Provincial Police detachment the fact that a person is being treated for a gunshot wound, the person's name, if known, and the name and location of the facility.
Manner and timing of disclosure
(2) The disclosure must be made orally and as soon as it is reasonably practicable to do so without interfering with the person's treatment or disrupting the regular activities of the facility.
Other obligations not affected
3. Nothing in this Act shall prevent a facility from disclosing information to a municipal or regional police force or the Ontario Provincial Police that the facility is otherwise by law permitted or authorized to disclose.
Protection from liability
4. No action or other proceeding for damages shall be instituted against a facility, a director, officer or employee of a facility or a health care practitioner for any act done in good faith in the execution or intended execution of a duty under this Act or for any alleged neglect or default in the execution in good faith of that duty.
Regulations
5. The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations,
(a) prescribing organizations and institutions that provide health care services, or classes of them, that are facilities for the purposes of this Act;
(b) adding a clinic that provides health care services to the definition of "facility" in section 1;
(c) adding a medical doctor's office to the definition of "facility" in section 1;
(d) exempting facilities or classes of facilities and persons or classes of persons from any provision of this Act or of a regulation made under this Act and prescribing circumstances and conditions for any such exemption;
(e) governing the requirements in section 2 respecting the manner and timing for the disclosure under that section, including prescribing the persons responsible for making the disclosure on behalf of the facility, and prescribing additional requirements;
(f) defining, for the purposes of this Act, any word or expression used in this Act that has not already been expressly defined in this Act;
(g) respecting any matter that the Lieutenant Governor in Council considers necessary or advisable to carry out effectively the purposes of this Act.
Commencement
6. (1) Subject to subsection (2), this Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
Same
(2) Sections 1 to 5 come into force on a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor.
Short title
7. The short title of this Act is the Mandatory Gunshot Wounds Reporting Act, 2005.
EXPLANATORY NOTE
This Explanatory Note was written as a reader's aid to Bill 110 and does not form part of the law. Bill 110 has been enacted as Chapter 9 of the Statutes of Ontario, 2005.
The Bill imposes an obligation on public hospitals and prescribed health care facilities to report to police when they treat a person for a gunshot wound. The obligation may be extended by regulation to clinics and medical doctors' offices.