OUR HEALTH LAW GROUP
Health care providers operating in the health industry face an intimidating legal environment. With ever-evolving regulations that produce an array of compliance, transactional and litigation issues, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (BLG) knows that your day-to-day operations are becoming increasingly complicated. And that's why the Firm's Health Law Group is committed to working with you, as part of your team, to guide you through this maze with personalized counsel.
With more than 50 professionals that provide legal services to over 215 health care institutions in Ontario, BLG's Health Law Group combines in-depth experience with leading-edge strategies to ensure that your goals are achieved. The result? BLG has successfully defended four of the most significant health related trials in Ontario for the past four years. We think ahead so that you can move ahead. With a team that understands intimately the demands and pressures you face, you can look to us with confidence for legal representation that is responsive, proactive and efficient.
Our clients include a wide range of health care providers and care coordinators, including hospitals, Local Health Integration Networks in Ontario (LHIN's) and Community Care Access Centres (CCAC's), long-term care facilities and nursing homes, laboratories, pharmacies, medical clinics, private health clinics, emergency centres, medical and health associations, and regulatory colleges.
The Health Law Group has decades of experience in medical malpractice litigation and representing clients before hospital, regulatory and disciplinary boards – including the Consent and Capacity Board, Ontario Review Board, Health Services Appeal and Review Board, College of Nurses, and the Human Rights Tribunal among others. The Group also provides day-to-day situational advice to many health care facilities on the issues that arise in the provision of health care — chief among them is risk management. It is this breadth of experience that allows us to provide customized counsel to ensure that risk prevention remains a primary focus.
BLG has also long recognized the need for its health care clients to have access to legal counsel for urgent matters that can arise at any time — day or night. As a result, the Group has established a 24-hour 7-days-a-week on-call system where one member of the Health Law Group can be reached by pager. This ensures that when you need us, we're there.
Always at the forefront of the industry, professionals in the Health Law Group have been consistently featured in the top Canadian legal ranking publications, including the 2009 edition of The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory and Best Lawyers in Canada. The Firm also garnered a “Consistently recommended” ranking in the 2009 Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory in the area of Medical Negligence – “Leading Firms Representing Defendants”.
Achieving the best possible outcome is your aim — and ours. A thought leader that sees beyond today to tomorrow, BLG is your law firm.
OUR SERVICES
Included in the range of services and advice provided are:
- hospital policies and procedures
- advocacy regarding physician privileges and Hospital Board hearings
- advocacy in regards to substitute decision-making, consent and capacity, consent to treatment and palliative care issues
- privacy law, patient confidentiality, and access to health records
- advocacy matters before various regulatory boards such as: Consent and Capacity Board, the Ontario Review Board, the Health Services Appeal and Review Board, the College of Nurses, the Human Rights Tribunal and other professional disciplinary bodies
- risk management and quality assurance programs
- adverse event disclosure and “lookback” reviews
- interactions with the police
- coroner's inquests