Interestingly, in SK and AB, part of the cancer screening programs is
that after a PAP women do, in fact, receive a letter with results from
the provincial cancer agency.  Setting this up caused much debate around
privacy of personal information, and whether or not the cancer agencies
were allowed to have the personal info and to send it out.  Some
individuals were very vocally upset about their results being held by
the cancer agencies and about the communications.  They felt their
privacy was being violated.

Privacy legislation is pretty clear about the rights of an individual to
see their personal information AND their rights to make changes to
erroneous information.  This is not just health, but financial etc.  At
the same time, in health at least, there are certain provisions around
sharing information so treatment can occur in a timely fashion.

One possible problem is that staff training can be so focused on privacy
and security of information that there is in some cases nothing in the
training that says what you CAN give out, only can't, can't, can't.
Staff are afraid to say anything, and so they retreat to saying nothing
as the safe route.  

-----Original Message-----
From: Social Determinants of Health [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Sandi Pniauskas
Sent: Friday, November 10, 2006 11:00 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [SDOH] 2006 Determinants of a health lifestyle and use of
preventive screening in Canada

>
>
> When I persisted, she refused, saying she
>wasn't allowed to send the results to patients. "What, for example, if
the
>results are positive?" 
>
If this situation occurs again then you need only remind the person that

there is case law which states that patients have a right to their files

(copies etc). I had this same situation (access to personal information)

occur once and I can assure you that it has never happened since. The 
access issue continues, however, to arise with patients because the 
public is not aware and further exasperated by the lack of a Patient's 
Bill of Rights in this country.
Sandi


Chrystal Ocean wrote:

>One factor in not having regular mammographies is not having a family
>doctor. Same with pap smears and all that good stuff.
>
>I was once at the local hospital with a friend. The mammography office
was
>next door to us, so I stopped in to see if I could have one done. My
last
>mammography was in 1998 and there's a high frequency of cancer on the
>maternal side of my family. 
>
>The technician asked if I had a family doctor. I don't. 
>
>She said she couldn't do a mammography on me, as she had no one to send
the
>results to. When I suggested the obvious, that she send them to me, she
>replied that she couldn't do that. When I persisted, she refused,
saying she
>wasn't allowed to send the results to patients. "What, for example, if
the
>results are positive?" (Well, duh, I'd get myself to the hospital!)
>
>Last year, our community finally got a walk-in clinic. Now people who
don't
>have doctors can have such tests done.
>
>Ocean
>
>  
>

-------------------
Problems/Questions? Send it to Listserv owner: [log in to unmask]


To unsubscribe, send the following message in the text section -- NOT
the subject header --  to [log in to unmask]
SIGNOFF SDOH

DO NOT SEND IT BY HITTING THE REPLY BUTTON. THIS SENDS THE MESSAGE TO
THE ENTIRE LISTSERV AND STILL DOES NOT REMOVE YOU.

To subscribe to the SDOH list, send the following message to
[log in to unmask] in the text section, NOT in the subject header.
SUBSCRIBE SDOH yourfirstname yourlastname

To post a message to all 1000+ subscribers, send it to [log in to unmask]
Include in the Subject, its content, and location and date, if relevant.

For a list of SDOH members, send a request to [log in to unmask]

To receive messages only once a day, send the following message to
[log in to unmask]
SET SDOH DIGEST

To view the SDOH archives, go to:
https://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/sdoh.html

-------------------
Problems/Questions? Send it to Listserv owner: [log in to unmask]


To unsubscribe, send the following message in the text section -- NOT the subject header --  to [log in to unmask]
SIGNOFF SDOH

DO NOT SEND IT BY HITTING THE REPLY BUTTON. THIS SENDS THE MESSAGE TO THE ENTIRE LISTSERV AND STILL DOES NOT REMOVE YOU.

To subscribe to the SDOH list, send the following message to [log in to unmask] in the text section, NOT in the subject header.
SUBSCRIBE SDOH yourfirstname yourlastname

To post a message to all 1000+ subscribers, send it to [log in to unmask]
Include in the Subject, its content, and location and date, if relevant.

For a list of SDOH members, send a request to [log in to unmask]

To receive messages only once a day, send the following message to [log in to unmask]
SET SDOH DIGEST

To view the SDOH archives, go to: https://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/sdoh.html