Starting this June, Nova Scotia
doctors will be forced to notify police if a patient
is treated for gunshot or stab wounds.
The Gunshot and Stab Wounds Mandatory
Reporting Act, passed on December 13, requires the province's
public health facilities to call police as soon as a
patient with a wound arrives. Police must be given the
patient's name and the location of the facility for
a follow-up.
Some of the province's doctors
have spoken out against the legislation. Dr Doug Sinclair,
the head of the emergency department at the IWK Health
Centre, told the CBC the legislation is "misguided."
The law could scare some people
away from seeking help, he said. "We're very concerned
that youth in need of care would not come to the emergency
department."
Dalhousie health law expert Jocelyn
Downie has also denounced the law.
In a press release, Justice Minister
Cecil Clark heralded the legislation, saying it will
ensure police receive critical information to allow
them to begin an investigation as soon as possible.
Nova Scotia's new law is part of
a growing trend. In 2005, Ontario became the first province
in Canada to mandate gunshot wound reporting. A year
later, Saskatchewan passed legislation requiring reports
for both gunshot and stab wounds.
A spokeswoman for Manitoba Health
Minister Theresa Oswald recently told the Winnipeg
Free Press that Manitoba is also looking very closely
at a similar rule.
However, Winnipeg emergency physician
Merril Pauls told the newspaper that such a law potentially
breaches doctor-patient confidentiality and could make
some people fear doctors just as they fear police.
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