Impaired driving is the leading cause of criminal death in Canada, says the government agency, Statistics Canada.
Photo Credit: CBC

Doctor wants right to report drunk drivers

A Toronto emergency room doctor says a physician’s obligation to maintain a patient’s confidentiality should be limited when it comes to impaired driving.

Provincial and federal laws as well as the doctors’ own code of ethics severely limit any dissemination of a patient’s personal information.

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Dr. Brett Belchetz says it is “heartbreaking” to see someone he know has committed a crime walk out the hospital door. © CBC

Dr. Brett Belchetz says he recently treated a woman who refused blood tests and left hospital before police arrived. She had been involved in a collision in which two other people were injured.

“Those are just heartbreaking times where I see somebody who I know has committed a crime walking out the door and a lot of the time, the patient looks at me and they know that I know that they’ve gotten away with it,” he said in an interview with CBC News.

Belchetz wants laws changed so that doctors can report suspected impaired drivers to police, as they are allowed to do with people who have suffered gunshot wounds.

This view is supported by the advocacy group, Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Impaired driving is the leading cause of criminal death in Canada, says the government agency, Statistics Canada.

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