The College of Physicians & Surgeons Required to Provide Complainant with a Registrant's Prior Complaint History

In RM v. The College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC, 2011 BCSC 832, the Health Professions Review Board (HPRB) ordered that documents revealing past complaints concerning a physician, should be disclosed to the complainant seeking the review.
The complaint alleged the physician had used rude, obscene and racially inappropriate language during an appointment. The matter was investigated and it was decided that the medical care was appropriate and the College could not adjudicate the "divergent reports concerning the [physician's] behaviour." The complainant was advised of this.
However, the College advised the registrant that it considered the complaint to be partially substantiated, and that in view of his history of at least 16 complaints some of which were valid, the College would closely monitor him. The registrant's complaint history was not considered by the Inquiry Committee handling the case under review.
When the review was underway, the complainant learned that there was a previous history because some documents were redacted from the disclosure to the HPRB. The College and physician argued that these documents should not be disclosed because they were irrelevant, the rule against character evidence would be infringed and the physician's right to privacy would be infringed. The HPRB ordered their disclosure to the complainant.
The Court decided that the decision to release the information to the complainant was not patently unreasonable or based on irrelevant factors. The Board exercised its discretion properly especially since the documents were not released to the public at large, but only to the complainant, and subject to conditions that they could only be used for the purpose of the review.
The BCSC refused to interfere with the HPRB's decision.