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Ellie H. was a 40 year old woman working in Human Resources. She was great at what she did. Ellie was also born with spina-bifida, a condition arising during fetal/child development where the vertebrae don’t form properly around part of the spinal cord. These spinal issues have resulted in life-long chronic pain. But that never stopped her from working. She worked 20 years in the business and achieved the respect of her peers and employers. Shortly after commencing a new dream job, she became ill with an infection. This infection led to a diagnosis of chronic fatigue. And it was incapacitating.  She was

Warning You are the purchaser of real estate. You have paid a deposit. You don’t complete the transaction. The failure to complete a real estate transaction has real and costly consequences. As the purchaser, you risk losing your deposit and paying damages to the seller. In the context of a falling real estate market, the damages you may end up paying can go up. And, the seller may be entitled to consequential damages arising from the failed transaction to compensate for other costs, such as: Financing and other additional costs associated with another property that the seller bought with the

By Perry Armitage, Partner In BC physicians and healthcare professionals are obliged to keep accurate records of every patient visit. Typically, this “clinical history” contains the patient’s complaints along with the doctor’s examination findings, their observations, and their recommended treatment plan.   Additionally, medical professionals can use the clinical history to identify and initiate future courses of treatment. A person making a legal claim for benefits or losses arising from a disability or injury, known as a claimant, often uses the clinical history to establish the need for coverage or compensation.  Advancing such a claim will almost always require disclosure of

Whenever a physician or health-care practitioner meets with a patient they are obliged to keep records of that visit. These clinical records contain the patient’s subjective complaints along with a physician or health-care practitioner’s objective observations, assessments and the specifics of the treatment plan that is prescribed. Therefore, clinical records are often relevant in personal injury and insurance litigation cases and usually play an important role in the course of litigation. At trial, clinical records are admitted as evidence under the “business records” exemption of the Evidence Act. However, the courts in British Columbia have held that clinical records may

Committeeship is the authority granted by the Court which appoints one or more persons to attend to the personal and/or financial and legal affairs of an adult who is not capable of doing so (the “Patient”). This can occur because of lifelong issues, severe injuries from accidents, illnesses or the effects of aging. In British Columbia, committeeship is often required to assist individuals with aging parents who may no longer be mentally competent to care for themselves or to manage their own affairs. How Committeeship Works There are two basic methods for conferring adult guardianship through the process of committeeship.