Health Information Confidentiality

In general, your private health care provider is allowed to assume your implied consent regarding your personal health information that is necessary for care. Please visit the following page for information on explicit and implied consent.  

It is often best practice to have written communication with your health care provider regarding the confidentiality of your personal health information. 

You have the right to have a conversation with your health care provider if you do not want your personal health information to be shared. Sometimes this is called “masking” or “opting out” or “limiting disclosure”. Please visit the following page for more information on how to limit disclosure of your personal health information. 

There are some limited situations where health care providers are legally required to disclose certain information about you, which you can view on our page on accessing or altering your health records.  

Some health authority systems allow you the ability to limit the use or disclosure of your personal health information from secondary purposes. Some systems can also put a “privacy flag” on their record to indicate that special instructions or limits apply to the person’s medical record during their stay in hospital. This can be useful if you don’t want a particular person at the hospital to be able to see your medical record. 

For more information about what your hospital can do to limit who can access your personal health information, contact the Privacy Office of the Health Authority. In addition, please visit the following page on limiting access to health records.  

Your health care providers can share your personal health information with other health care providers who give you care and treatment, often referred to as your “circle of care”. Those in your circle of care are allowed to see your personal health information if it is relevant to your treatment. Your health care provider is legally allowed to assume you have consented to this type of sharing within your circle of care.  

Medical assistants may also have access to your file, but generally only for file updates and accuracy.  

Your health care providers are not allowed to share your personal information with anyone outside the circle of care except in very limited situations. For example, your health care provider may be allowed to share your personal health information when you tell them in writing to give copies of your files to someone, such as a family member or lawyer.  

There are legal requirements for certain situations in which your information must be shared. Please visit the following page for more information on when your consent may not be necessary.  

When your personal health information is in a clinic or hospital operated by a health authority, they may use your information for either primary or secondary purposes.  

Health authorities do not need to get consent before they use personal health information for these types of purposes. When they use personal health information for these types of purposes, they might take the individual’s name off and replace it with a number or code, so the information is made anonymous. They do not have to do that, and there are circumstances where they cannot take your name off (to evaluate a specific problem, or for “stewardship purposes”).  

There are laws in BC which specifically allow health authorities, Ministries, and other agencies of government to collect, use, and disclose personal health information for “stewardship purposes” without having to get consent from the individual. A person cannot limit what is done with their personal health information for a stewardship purpose and does not receive notice when it is collected, used, or disclosed.  

Please visit the following page for more information about stewardship purposes and the law that applies to the public sector. 

Generally, when your health care provider collects your information for treatment purposes, you must be asked whether you would like to disclose your information for research. If you are asked to participate in a research project, you have a right to refuse. In most cases you also have the right to refuse at any point during the research study.  

A lot of personal health information is collected by health authorities, Ministries, and government agencies, and this information can be used for health research, public health research, system planning, management, and evaluation purposes, so long as certain rules are followed.  

Please visit the following page for more information about the laws that enable research to be done in BC using personal health information held in the public sector. 

Sometimes personal health information will be anonymized by the government for health research. This is often done by Population Data BC, which arranges for research to be done using information about people that the government has collected in a way that protects privacy. 

Other times personal health information is collected into a specific agency or health registry for the specific purpose of conducting health surveillance and large-scale public health research—a good example of this is the BC Cancer Registry. 

If you DO NOT WANT your information to be shared with your other health care providers, you need to communicate this with your health care provider. They may want you to give them the instructions in writing. Please visit the following page for our sample form.  

In BC, a minor (person under 19 years old) may consent to health care if they are considered capable under the law. The statutory framework for minors consenting to health care is defined in the Infants Act and the Age of Majority Act. To be considered capable under section 17 of the Infants Act, a minor must understand the following: 

• The need for the health care;  
• What the health care involves, and;  

• The benefits and risks of the health care.  

If your health care provider determines a minor has full appreciation of the nature and consequences related to the health care, then they may treat them without guardian permission as per section 17 of the Infants Act.  
 Therefore, it depends case to case whether as a minor you will be able to consent to medical care and if the health care provider is able to treat you. Despite there being no set age for when a minor may give consent about their health, consent depends on the minor’s decision-making capability and the context of the situation.  

Under the Personal Information Protection Act (“PIPA”) which applies to the private health system, patients may request their personal health information from their health care providers, which must be fulfilled within 30 days unless there are exceptions or extensions. However, PIPA does not specify if there is an age requirement for patients to be able to exercise this right, and rather it depends on a case-by-case situation for whether the patient is legally mature. If your request is denied by your health care provider, please submit a complaint to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for BC.  

If you are a minor who would like to keep your health care confidential, the first step is to talk with your doctor. Aside from speaking with your doctor in person, most doctors can be contacted by email or phone through their office. It is a good practice to communicate with your health care provider whether you have confidentiality rights as a minor.  

A minor’s health care is completely confidential if they are considered to be capable under the Infants Act. However, there are limits, which include laws requiring the doctor to report to the authorities if there is good reason to believe that a child or teenager might harm themselves or others, or that there are certain kinds of abuse (physical, sexual or emotional). Please visit the following page for information on when your consent may not be necessary.  

If you are uncomfortable speaking to your doctor about a health problem, an alternative for confidential treatment could be a clinic. If you have difficulties finding a nearby “youth” clinic, it would be best to contact any relevant clinic near you as they may be able to treat you or direct you to the appropriate clinic.  

Here are just some of the lists of youth clinics in British Columbia:  

• List of youth clinics in the Lower Mainland 
• List of Child & Youth Mental Health Intake Clinics in British Columbia 
• List of Island Health Youth Clinics specializing in sexual health and immunizations