A ruling from the Supreme Court of Canada will determine whether British Columbia will be required to hand over patients’ health information to Philip Morris International, CBC News reports. The case stems from the province attempting to force the company to cover the cost of treating tobacco-related illnesses. Philip Morris argues it needs patient information to defend itself in court, while the province states handing over the data could violate privacy laws and has offered information from Statistics Canada as a substitute. "These databases include individual-level records of every hospital, medical and other health care attendance, diagnosis and treatment provided during the past 25 years to each insured person," according to documents filed to the Supreme Court.
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