Access to Care
The College vigorously defended patients’
rights to access care when it fought a court
challenge that was brought against its
effective referral requirement. The College
requires that physicians who do not want
to provide a medical service for reasons of
conscience or religion establish a mechanism
to connect their patients with an available,
non-objecting health care provider with whom
the patient can explore all options (“effective
referral”).
The Challenge against the College’s
expectations of physicians was initiated by
the Christian Medical and Dental Society of
Canada, The Canadian Federation of Catholic
Physicians’ Societies, Canadian Physicians for
Life as well as five other individual physicians.
We argued that our two policies - Professional
Obligations and Human Rights and Medical
Assistance in Dying – balances patients’
rights to access all health services with any
physician’s conscience or religious beliefs.
Although an effective referral does not
guarantee a patient will receive a treatment,
it ensures access to care and demonstrates
respect for patient autonomy.
In a unanimous decision released in January
2018, the Superior Court of Justice supported
patients’ rights to access health services and
the CPSO’s effective referral requirement.
“The goal of ensuring access to healthcare, in
particular equitable access to healthcare, is
pressing and substantial. The effective referral
requirements of the Policies are rationally
connected to the goal. The requirements
impair the Individual Applicant’s right of
religious freedom as little as reasonably
possible in order to achieve the goal,” states
the decision.
“This is a win for vulnerable patients,” stated
the College Registrar.
CPSO ANNUAL REPORT 2017 // page 20