Bill 15 explained in plain English
Connecting Care Amendment Act (Patient Bill of Rights), 2021
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 42nd Parliament, 2nd Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
This bill creates a Patient Bill of Rights under the Connecting Care Act, 2019, detailing 15 rights for individuals receiving health services in Ontario, including the right to an essential caregiver, and these rights take precedence over other laws.
Bill 15, also known as the Connecting Care Amendment Act (Patient Bill of Rights), 2021, amends the Connecting Care Act, 2019. It establishes a Bill of Rights for individuals receiving health services in Ontario. This bill of rights outlines 15 specific rights, including the right to respectful treatment, privacy, autonomy, access to information, participation in care planning, the right to consent to or refuse services, and the right to have an essential caregiver present. The bill also defines an 'essential caregiver' and states that these rights prevail over conflicting provisions in other Acts or regulations, unless those other provisions explicitly state they apply despite the patient bill of rights. The Superior Court of Justice can be asked to make declarations about contraventions of these rights, and the court has the power to make orders to enforce them. This section of the bill applies to the Crown and its agencies.
- Amends the Connecting Care Act, 2019.
- Adds a new Part I.1, titled "Patient Bill of Rights", to the Connecting Care Act, 2019.
- Establishes 15 specific rights for persons receiving health services.
- Defines the term "essential caregiver".
- States that the Patient Bill of Rights prevails over other Acts or regulations, with specific exceptions.
- Allows for applications to the Superior Court of Justice to declare contraventions of the Patient Bill of Rights.
- Grants the Superior Court of Justice the power to make orders to enforce the Patient Bill of Rights.
- Binds the Crown and every agency of the Crown to the provisions of the Patient Bill of Rights.
- Persons receiving health services in Ontario.
- Health service providers.
- Essential caregivers.
- The Crown in right of Ontario.
- Agencies of the Crown in right of Ontario.
- The Superior Court of Justice.
- Right to be treated courteously and respectfully, free from abuse (mental, physical, financial).
- Right to dignity, privacy, autonomy, and to be recognized as a member of the care team.
- Right to be treated with sensitivity to individuality and needs, including ethnic, spiritual, linguistic, familial, and cultural factors.
- Right to information about health services and who will provide them.
- Right to participate in assessment, service plan development, and review of needs for health services.
- Right to give or refuse consent to health services.
- Right to a substitute decision-maker if incapable of making decisions.
- Right to raise concerns or recommend changes without fear of reprisal.
- Right to be informed about laws, rules, policies affecting the provider, and complaint procedures.
- Right to be informed of all persons and organizations involved in providing health services.
- Right to have health records kept confidential and to know about disclosures of personal health information.
- Right to a complete, accessible personal health record without delay or unreasonable cost.
- Right to designate an essential caregiver, have access to them at any time in any health care setting, and have them treated with respect.
- Right to information about appeal rights or complaint procedures.
- Right to continue receiving health services without reprisal while an appeal or complaint is underway.
- Obligation for health service providers to ensure these rights are respected and promoted.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- The specific criteria or process for an individual to be "designated" by another individual as their essential caregiver are not detailed in the provided text.
- The specific types of "health services" to which this bill of rights applies are not explicitly defined beyond the general context of the Connecting Care Act, 2019.
- While the bill states that the Patient Bill of Rights prevails over other laws, the exact scope and application of the exception where an Act or regulation "specifically provides that it is to apply despite the rights set out in subsection (1)" may require further legal interpretation.
Adds a definition for "essential caregiver" and introduces a new Part I.1 concerning a Patient Bill of Rights. It also adds a section clarifying the definition of an essential caregiver.
Source: Section 1, Section 2, Part I.1
The rights established in the Patient Bill of Rights will apply and take precedence over any provisions in other Acts or regulations that appear to require or authorize conduct that goes against these rights, unless the other Act or regulation specifically states it applies despite the Patient Bill of Rights.
Source: Section 2.1 (3)
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
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Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
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