Retention of the Medical Referral Form (DND 4006-E)

Topic

Retention of the Medical Referral Form (DND 4006-E)

Case number

• 2022-153 (F&R date: 2023-08-14)

Description

The Committee noted that current Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) policy requires that the Medical Referral Form [4006-E] be retained on a CAF member's personnel file regardless of whether the allegations prompting the referral have subsequently been proven or not. The Committee found that it is unfair to retain a document of unproven allegations on a member's personnel file as this could be highly prejudicial to the CAF member. 

However, the Committee supported retaining such a referral document in the member's medical file where it could prove useful in the future should there be a subsequent referral based on new circumstances. A referral form requiring a CAF member to be medically assessed for a potential medical alcohol dependency problem should be considered a medical process record and treated accordingly. The purpose of such a referral is to determine whether the “referred individual” suffers from alcohol related issues that could benefit from treatment, and to assist the chain of command in determining if alcohol dependency could have contributed to some confirmed or alleged misbehaviour by a member. 

If the physician determines that there is no medical alcohol dependency issue, all that remains are the allegations of misbehaviour. If those allegations are not investigated further, or if they do not result in any further administrative action, then there is no reason for the medical referral form mentioning the allegations to be appended to the member's personnel file.

Recommendation

The Committee recommended that the Final Authority direct a review of the CAF administration of the Medical Referral Form 4006-E, such that the form will be retained as a medical record only and will no longer be retained on the personnel files of CAF members.