An Ottawa hospital is challenging the legality of gene patents that hamper the ability of doctors to freely screen for potentially deadly genetic diseases without fear of being sued forpatent violations.

On Monday, the Childrens Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) started a legal process in Federal Court that could decide if human genes can be patented in Canada.

"Its about whether Canadian hospitals can provide genetic testing to Canadian patients and really give them the top quality of care," said Richard Gold, a lawyer and intellectual property expert at McGill University in Montreal, who is advising the hospital pro bono.

Currently, some genetic tests cant be done in Canada because U.S. companies hold patents on the tests and the genes and have threatened legal action if the patents are violated by doing the tests in Canada, rather than the U.S.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that naturallyoccurring human genes cant be patented and threw out patents held by Myriad Genetics Inc. to look for mutations on the BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 genes associated with much greater risks of breast and ovarian cancer,including a mutation that actorAngelina Jolie revealed she inherited.

CHEOs case centres on patents for genes associated with long QT syndrome, an inherited heart rhythm disorder that typically presents for the first time as a fainting spell or seizure during exercise or tragically in sudden death, said Gail Graham, head of medicine genetics at the Ottawa hospital.

"Genetic technology is just exploding. It's increasingly embedding itself at the heart of medicine," Graham said.

Long QT syndrome is treatable, but it often results in sudden death of a young person. With genetic screening, doctors aim to treat it before tragedy strikes.

The hospital is not allowed to screen for genes associatedwith long QT syndrome because a U.S. company has patented the test and the genes.

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U.S. Gene Patents: Patient Care Stymied In Canada, Hospital Claims