Short answer. Not without your consent. In a civil case, a physician or psychotherapist cannot be examined, without the patient's consent, on any confidential communication made for the purpose of diagnosis or treatment of the patient's physical, mental or emotional condition. The privilege belongs to you, the patient — you decide whether it is waived.
What the law says
A physician, psychotherapist or person reasonably believed by the patient to be authorized to practice medicine or psychotherapy cannot in a civil case, without the consent of the patient be examined as to any confidential communication made for the purpose of diagnosis or treatment
Rule 130, Section 24 — Disqualification by reason of privileged communication[s]. Read the full provision →
What the law says
This privilege also applies to persons, including members of the patient's family, who have participated in the diagnosis or treatment of the patient under the direction of the physician or psychotherapist.
Rule 130, Section 24 — Disqualification by reason of privileged communication[s]. Read the full provision →
What the privilege covers
The Rules disqualify certain witnesses from testifying to matters learned in confidence, and the physician-patient privilege is one of them: a physician, psychotherapist, or even a person you reasonably believed to be authorised to practise medicine or psychotherapy cannot in a civil case, without the consent of the patient be examined as to any confidential communication made for the purpose of diagnosis or treatment. The protected subject matter is broad — communications about your physical, mental or emotional condition, including alcohol or drug addiction — because candour with a doctor only exists where the consulting room stays sealed.
It reaches beyond the doctor
The privilege would be worthless if it stopped at the physician while everyone around the treatment could be called instead. So the rule extends it: this privilege also applies to persons, including members of the patient's family, who have participated in the diagnosis or treatment of the patient under the direction of the physician or psychotherapist. A relative who sat in on consultations at the doctor's direction, or staff involved in the treatment, are covered to the same extent. The rule also defines who counts as a psychotherapist — including a licensed physician treating a mental or emotional condition and a government-licensed psychologist similarly engaged.
The key limits: civil cases, confidence, and consent
Read the boundaries as carefully as the protection. The disqualification as written applies in a civil case. It covers communications made in confidence for diagnosis or treatment — not every fact a doctor happens to know about you from other contexts. And it yields to one thing: the consent of the patient. The privilege is yours, not the doctor's, which means it is also yours to lose — a patient who puts their own condition in issue or consents to disclosure opens the door. The rule even protects the communication in the hands of a third person who obtained it, provided the original parties took reasonable precautions to keep it confidential.
If a subpoena has already been served
If the other side has subpoenaed your doctor or your medical records, tell your counsel immediately and say clearly that you do not consent to the disclosure — consent is the hinge the whole privilege turns on, and silence can be misread. Counsel can then object to the examination on the ground of privilege before the testimony is taken. Be prepared, too, for the harder strategic question: whether your own claims in the case rely on your medical condition, because using your diagnosis as a sword while shielding the consultations behind privilege is a tension the court will have to resolve.