Federal (Canada) Privacy Decisions

The complainant alleged that a doctor used and disclosed his personal information without consent during an insurance claim evaluation. The investigation focused on whether the complainant's consent, provided through accident benefit application forms (OCF-1 and OCF-19), extended to this specific doctor hired to prepare a summary report. The Office determined that the consent forms explicitly allowed the insurance company and other parties, including health professionals, to collect, use, and disclose personal information for the purposes of investigating and processing the insurance claim, including assessing catastrophic impairment. Therefore, the doctor did not contravene PIPEDA's consent provisions.

• Whether consent provided for an insurance claim extended to a third-party doctor hired to prepare a summary report.
• Whether the specific wording of consent forms (OCF-1 and OCF-19) covered the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information by the doctor.
• Whether the doctor collected, used, or disclosed personal information for purposes beyond those stated in the consent forms.