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Thursday, December 07, 2006

Bipartisan ‘Good Samaritan Act’ passed into law by Legislature

Liberal Leader Gerrard and NDP MLA Korzeniowski co-sponsor private members bill to protect Good Samaritans from legal liability when rendering assistance

WINNIPEG – In an instance of bipartisan cooperation to mark this week’s International Day of the Volunteer, NDP MLA Bonnie Korzeniowski teamed up with Liberal Leader Dr. Jon Gerrard to successfully bring into law Manitoba’s first Good Samaritan protection act.

Introduced by Ms. Korzeniowski and seconded by Dr. Gerrard, Bill 214 is a private member’s bill that extends new legal protection to Manitobans who voluntarily give emergency help to a victim at the scene of an accident or emergency.

“It just happened that Bonnie and I each came up with our own private members bill to give legal protection to Good Samaritans,” Dr. Gerrard said. “Bonnie and I did not want the fact that we each had our own, similar bills to tangle-up such important legislation. Manitoba really needs a Good Samaritan law, so we agreed to pull the competing bills and co-sponsor a single bipartisan bill that all parties could agree to.”

Dr. Gerrard also emphasized the timeliness of the legislation by stating that the new law will help facilitate the use of automatic external defibrillators in Manitoba. Until now, the use of these lifesaving machines has been held back because of the lack of legal protection for individuals administering the machine on victims.

With subsequent support from the Conservative caucus, the legislation was fast-tracked using unanimous consent through the Legislature this week.

The bill will be given Royal Assent later today in a ceremony with Lt. Governor John Harvard.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

New Liberal bill lets MLAs screen Manitoba Hydro Board appointments

Province needs all-party interview process to weed-out partisan appointments: Gerrard

WINNIPEG – Delivering on its commitment to put the brakes on NDP political interference in the operation of provincial crown corporations, the Manitoba Liberals introduced new legislation today requiring all-party screening of government appointments to the board of Manitoba Hydro.

If passed, Bill 211, The Manitoba Hydro Amendment Act, would require all future government appointees to the Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board to be publicly interviewed by an all-party committee of the Manitoba Legislature. Following the public interview, the committee would formally advise the Premier as to an individual’s qualifications for serving on the board. No appointments would take effect until the all-party interview process is completed and the advice of the interview committee is considered.

“Right now, appointments are made completely behind the closed doors of the Premier’s Office and then presented as a done deal,” Liberal Leader Dr. Jon Gerrard said. “There is no prior public scrutiny, no prior public evaluation of board members before taking office. It’s a completely invisible process and that invisibility makes it ripe for possible abuse.”

Dr. Gerrard said that new accountability measures need to be put in place to help ensure the boards of provincial crown corporations do not end up as havens for unqualified party insiders as a reward for party service. The Liberal leader said new measures need to be taken to ensure that qualifications and suitability come before partisan considerations in board appointments.

“What our bill is moving towards is a process to ensure that a crown corporation the size of Manitoba Hydro, with annual revenue of over $2 billion and total assets of $10.5 billion, has the independence to stand-up to political interference coming from the Premier’s Office,” Dr. Gerrard said. “Given the history of government’s raiding surpluses from Manitoba Hydro, we need to be sure that Hydro has an independently-minded board able to stand up to the provincial government when it needs to.”

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Liberals introduce legislation giving patients access to personal health information within 24 hours

WINNIPEG – Liberal Leader Dr. Jon Gerrard introduced new legislation today to significantly reduce the time it takes for patients to gain access to their personal medical records held by provincial health care institutions.

If passed, Bill 210 The Personal Health Information Amendment Act would remove an existing rule allowing health care institutions in Manitoba to legally withhold health information from patients for a period of up to 30 days. The Liberals want to change the law to require access to recent medical information within 24 hours of a request from a hospital patient or their guardian.

“The 30 day rule is an obsolete rule and is just another example of how the Doer NDP forces patients to wait within the health care system,” Dr. Gerrard said. “In this day and age, there is no valid reason why it should take a health care institution 30 days to hand over a patient’s recent health information.”

Joined by patient rights advocates Mimi Raglan and Blake Taylor, who have experienced difficulties in accessing personal health information themselves, Dr. Gerrard explained how delays in providing information and keeping patients in the dark negatively affects patients and their families.

“Helping patients become fully-informed participants in their diagnosis and treatment will go a long way to improving overall patient safety,” Dr. Gerrard said. “But for that to happen, patients need to get health information in a timely manner from the institutions providing care and treatment. The current rules put patients and their families through unnecessary bureaucracy and stress which only complicates diagnosis and treatment.”

Specifically, the 24 hour requirement contained in Bill 210 applies only to recent health information collected by the health professionals actively providing care to patients. For information dating prior to admission to a health care institution, the previous 30 day rule would be retained.