Archie McLean reports:
Alberta’s privacy commissioner is raising concerns about a new bill that would allow paramedics to give police personal information about their patients.
Bill 62, the Emergency Health Services Amendment Act, gives paramedics permission to tell police names, dates of birth and medical information about their patients, as well as general observations from the scene.
Read more in the Edmonton Journal.
CBC News provides additional coverage emphasizing the police’s rationale for the bill:
Hansen said there have been at least 25 incidents across Alberta where police were not told of serious crimes when they arrived at the scene.
In one case, a teenager, who had been drinking, alleged she had been sexually assaulted but the information was not passed to police by emergency workers.
“We’re not talking about having access to people’s medical records,” Hansen said. “We’re talking about basic information that relates to what just happened, who is that person right there and what can you tell me right now at this scene that’s going to give us a good sense of what happened at this event.”