Ottawa Scraps Health Consent Forms

Ottawa Scraps Health Consent Forms

Thursday, February 05, 2004 at 13:25

In the words of FSIN Vice Chief Morley Watson, the health consent form issue is dead.

Health Minister Pierre Pettigrew announced yesterday that the federal government will no longer pursue the health consent form issue.

Instead, the federal department has agreed to a revised approach to address the issue of misuse of prescription drugs.

The controversial forms would have given the medical establishment and the government unprecedented access to the personal medical records of status Indians.

First Nations people had been facing a March 1st deadline to either sign the forms or risk losing their medical benefits.

Watson says now that the forms have been scrapped, the FSIN’s next order of business is to ensure the rights of people who already signed the forms are protected.