TORONTO — In a bulletin to members sent last month, the Canadian Medical Protective Association, an Ottawa-based legal defence group, recommended that doctors no longer complete the necessary paperwork required by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation for physical examinations of truck drivers operating in the United States.

The CMPA, which provides legal assistance for more than 56,000 members — roughly 95% of medical professionals in Canada — is advising doctors not to submit Form 12, which the U.S. DOT requires in order to issue medical credentials, because it increases their liability exposure beyond what the CMPA covers.

CMPA legal analysts warn that because the form constitutes a legal U.S. document, a person injured in an accident in the U.S. or his relatives could sue a Canadian doctor for declaring the driver physically qualified, should that person’s physical condition at the time be called into question.

The association will only protect physicians against liability for work performed in Canada, such as physicals conducted for provincial driver licences.

“It’s not the fact that doctors are giving the examination. It’s the fact that they are required by the U.S. DOT to fill out a specific form,” says Françoise Parent, the association’s director of communications.

“At that point, legally, the doctor is operating in another jurisdiction, which means they are liable in that jurisdiction should anything come up by virtue of the fact that they have filled out a form. Our organization was never intended to protect physicians for work that could be perceived as crossing the border, nor are we financially set up to do so.”

The CMPA’s decision is causing some family doctors to re-think their policies on DOT medical exams for drivers and other transportation workers who must comply in order to operate in the U.S.

“It’s not that we’re telling the doctor not to do the physical examination,” she says. “We’re advising the doctor not to complete Form 12 without accepting that he’s going to be liable in another jurisdiction.”

Parent notes that if there were a Canadian form that was accepted by the U.S. DOT, “there would be no problem.”
The Canadian Trucking Alliance contacted the CMPA to inquire about the recommendation, but the response “was unsatisfactory,” according to Barrie Montague, manager, safety and operations, with the Ontario Trucking Association in Toronto. “So we will elevate the issue. We need the federal government to intercede. We need to make the point that by doing this, [the CMPA] will interfere with the movement of $270 billion worth of freight.”

Drivers, meanwhile, are looking for alternatives.

“Our business has shot right up,” says Dr. Chris Page, chief medical review officer for Driver Check, a Hamilton, Ont.-based company that specializes in medical services for truck drivers. “Family doctors are taking this seriously. If you’re a single doc, you’re faced with taking out additional insurance in order to do these exams. When you do 10 physicals a year, why bother?” Dr. Page says his company conducts enough physicals to make third-party insurance worthwhile.