February 26, 1999 – Last fall, the Ontario provincial government passed Bill 2, a private member’s bill to amend the Physicians Act, 1991, for second reading. This law which adds section 5.1 to the Physicians Act 1991 stipulates that
“No member should be found guilty of professional misconduct or incompetence under article 51 or 52 of the Code of Health Professions simply because he practices non-traditional therapy or different from the current exercise. medicine, unless there is evidence to show that the therapy poses a greater risk to the health of the patient than the traditional or routine practice of the profession.”
While the Act had received unanimous support from all three parties represented in the Ontario Legislature, in addition to that of the Corporation of Physicians of Ontario, the priorities of the Ontario government caused it to die on the soap opera before it failed. was adopted on third and final reading. Liberal MP Monte Kwinter will therefore have to restart the process at the next session of the Ontario Parliament in March.
It is interesting to note that the Ontario law uses the same wording as the Helsinski Accord of the World Health Organization, signed in 1989 by Canada and which binds all the provinces.
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