Can a nurse’s notes and hospital records be admitted as prima facie proof of the truth of their contents under the hearsay exception for medical records?

Canada (Federal), Canada

The following excerpt is from R. v. Owen, [2003] 1 SCR 779, 2003 SCC 33 (CanLII):

58 The evidence was credible. Nursing notes and hospital records have routinely been admitted for more than 30 years as prima facie proof of the truth of their contents under the hearsay exception for business records: Ares v. Venner, 1970 CanLII 5 (SCC), [1970] S.C.R. 608, per Hall J., at p. 626: Hospital records, including nurses’ notes, made contemporaneously by someone having a personal knowledge of the matters then being recorded and under a duty to make the entry or record should be received in evidence as prima facie proof of the facts stated therein.

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