R V Dersch
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''R v Dersch'',
993 Year 993 ( CMXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – The 12-year-old King Otto III gives the Sword of Saints Cosmas and Damian ...
3 S.C.R. 768 is a leading
Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...
decision on the right against unreasonable
search and seizure Search and seizure is a procedure used in many civil law and common law legal systems by which police or other authorities and their agents, who, suspecting that a crime has been committed, commence a search of a person's property and confiscat ...
under section 8 of the ''
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (french: Charte canadienne des droits et libertés), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part o ...
''. The Court held that sharing of personal information of patients, such as blood test results, between health care professionals or law enforcement violates section 8 of the ''Charter'' and should be excluded under section 24(2).


Background

In the evening of October 7, 1987, Wilfred Dersch was driving near
Duncan, British Columbia Duncan (pop. 5,047 in 2021) is a city on southern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. It is the smallest city by area (2.07 square kilometres, 0.8 square miles) in Canada. It was incorporated in 1912. Location The city is about 45 kilo ...
. His car swerved into oncoming traffic and caused an accident, killing the other driver. When the police arrived Dersch refused the breathalyzer. The police noticed that his eyes were glazed and he appeared intoxicated. He was taken to the hospital where the doctor tried to give him an intravenous line which he resisted. Eventually he passed out and the intravenous was given and a blood sample was taken. The doctor tested the blood for alcohol content as it was necessary for treatment. The police requested a blood sample from Dersch who refused. The police then asked for the medical report which the doctor gave them. It revealed that he was intoxicated at the time of treatment. Later, the police obtained a warrant to seize the blood sample. At trial the judge found that there was no violation of section 8 as the blood sample was taken for medically necessary reasons. The decision was upheld in the British Columbia Court of Appeal. The issues before the Supreme Court were: # whether the doctors and hospital were subject to the Charter. # whether the police's conduct violated section 8 and if so whether it was saved under section 1. # if a violation is found whether the evidence could be excluded under section 24(2). The Court found that the doctor and hospital were not subject to the Charter. It was also found that the police's conduct was in violation of section 8, was not justified under section 1, and that the evidence should be excluded under section 24(2).


See also

*
List of Supreme Court of Canada cases (Lamer Court) This is a chronological list of notable cases decided by the Supreme Court of Canada from appointment of Antonio Lamer as Chief Justice of Canada to his retirement. 19901994 19951999 See also * List of notable Canadian Courts of Appeals cases ...


External links

* {{lexum-scc2, 1993, 3, 768, 32
case summary at mapleleafweb.com
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