SECTION 8 - USE OF PRODUCTION ORDER TO OBTAIN HOSPITAL RECORDS REVIEWED

An Edmonton Police Service officer applied for an order requiring the production of the hospital’s emergency medical records including records of the analysis done of Mr. Fedossenko’s blood by the hospital. He had been involved in a single vehicle accident and was eventually charged but was acquitted at trial.  The trial judge concluded that a production order may be granted only where there are reasonable grounds to believe that an offence had been committed.  A majority of the Alberta Court of Appeal disagreed and ordered a new trial:

Under the circumstances here, the police were not required to show reasonable and probable grounds to believe the offence was in fact committed in order to meet the requirement in s 487.012(3)(a) of the Code. The purpose of the production order was to verify the reasonable suspicion that the offence was committed. Moreover, in the circumstances of this case, it is clear that this was not an attempt by the police to circumvent their duties or to otherwise cure an earlier failed attempt to obtain similar evidence but in a different fashion. The tests are simply different. R. v. Fedossenko, 2014 ABCA 314